Growing Closer
by N30S
Summary: [-M-Rating mainly for safety later on-] Kagami and Konata were good friends since the very beginning, but as they spend more and more time together after Konata raised her own death flag by agreeing to teach Kagami how to cook, they became even better or rather best friends. As time passed, even this changed when new feelings became part of their friendship that changed everything.
1. Curious and suspicious friends

I sadly don't own anything from Lucky Star or anything related to it (Except maybe the manga volumes I bought, but I guess that doesn't count)

...

I don't know if someone still reads Lucky Star story, but whatever :)

It's going to be a rather long story. I already have about 15 chapters written before posting the story here until I took a break writing it and it's not going to stop anytime soon, now that I started again. It's easily going to be over 100k words… probably **way** more. **[Now that I exceeded 50 chapters and 400k words, I guess I stayed true to it.]**

About the story.

It's obviously about the best couple, which means Konami. It's a slow slice of life story, so don't expect any 'actual' dating action from the get-go. It's about Kagami and Konata becoming good, or rather best friends. As time goes on, even that changes as new feelings become part of their friendship which reaches further than just being best friends.

About the setting.

It starts at the beginning of their second year in high school, just like the manga/anime did. However, a lot of the events which happens in their second and third year I'm going to use in this story already have happened, but not all of them. For example, Yutaka and friends still aren't going to show up until later, and some things, especially everything related to college (mostly happened in the manga anyway) is going to be my own creation...

PS. The rating is just to be safe. I have no idea how far I'm going with 'it', and so I'm just going to use the M-Rating. **[Well, I ended up going all the way in the end… Nothing too graphic, though.]**

….

The first chapter isn't actually the first timeline wise. It's, in essence, something that will happen in the future around chapter 15 (probably). I'm just going to use it as a little teaser. The last part, Konata's monologue is a short recap of some events that happened before the start of the story where I'm going to start with.

* * *

1\. Curious and suspicious friends.

* * *

"Hey, is it just me or are two over there acting somewhat weird lately, Yuki-chan?" Tsukasa was looking at Konata and her twin sister Kagami. The two in question weren't listening at all because they were seemingly lost in thoughts. Kagami was resting her head on her hands while vaguely staring in Konata's direction with a vacant look in her eyes. Konata was lying with her face flat on the desk so you couldn't tell in which direction she was looking because her long, blue, hair was all over the place and completely hid her face, and half the table around her. The two already looked like that almost the entire day in their respective classes as well.

"I'm not entirely sure, but you might be right, Tsukasa-san. I don't think they are fighting or something like that if that's what you mean, though" Miyuki had noticed their change as well. ' _Maybe my guess about what is going on between them was right, but… Maybe Tsukasa-san has the same theory as I have?'_ She, too, was shortly lost in thoughts, but soon turned her attention to Tsukasa.

"Yes, absolutely not… if anything, it's the opposite. I don't know what it is, but there is definitely something going on…" She wasn't sure how to put it because she wasn't exactly sure what she meant herself.

"Could you give me an example, Tsukasa-san? I'm sure you saw one or two things that made you think like that, right?"

"Okay, ah, wait a moment… Kona-chan...? Onee-chan...?" Tsukasa addressed the two and waited for an answer from them, but nothing happened, and after having made sure they weren't listening, she continued. "…Well, I haven't seen onee-chan that often lately because she is almost every day at Kona-chan's place… Ah, that's also a point… but a little over a week ago, I went together with onee-chan to Kona-chan's place because I wanted to copy my home... a-ahem, _d-do_ my homework together with the two." Her real intention for the visit almost leaked out.

"I take something happened there?" Miyuki seemed fairly interested as she slightly leaned towards Tsukasa and waited for her to continue.

"Not directly _happened_ , I guess… It was more like the way onee-chan was acting at Kona-chan's house what surprised me. I mean, Kona-chan was always, well, uhm… Kona-chan, but onee-chan was completely different than how she normally acts around here or even at home…"

"And…?" Miyuki became even more interested in the story, and so Tsukasa told her what she saw.

….

 **Tsukasa's recollection of her visit.**

…

I'll start from the beginning then. We arrived at Kona-chan's house, and I was about to ring the bell, but onee-chan stopped me saying that I don't have to. I didn't know what she meant at first, but she pulled out a key out of her pocket.

"Wait, you have a key for Kona-chan's house?" Naturally, I was totally surprised! I mean, you don't usually have a key to a friend's house, have you? Onee-chan told me that she got it because Kona-chan didn't want to go downstairs to open the door every time. She apparently didn't want to lose any precious manga reading time or something like that. I actually wasn't fully listening because I was just too confused and simply kept nodding with an occasional "I see…"

After that, we stepped in, took our shoes off, and Kona-chan's father greeted Onee-chan from the living room. He didn't even notice that I was there, too. He spoke really casually with onee-chan, so I guess they see each other often. The thing was, though, onee-chan had also been really casual and even used his first name, Sojiro-san! Once he finally noticed me, he looked a little worried because I was somewhat pale. But, can you blame me? It made no sense at all! Once we finally left him, I naturally questioned onee-chan why she's acting so familiar with him, but she only said that he asked her to address him like that because he doesn't like formalities and onee-chan just thought to better agree to it because she's no good with him. Just then I remembered that Kona-chan is quite close to our mom, too, using her first name and all, but onee-chan said that's different because those two are actually friends for some reason, but won't tell her why.

After that, we finally reached Kona-chan's room and entered. I was happy because that meant I could finally relax a little, but that sadly wasn't true at all… Onee-chan immediately greeted Kona-chan, but she called her a 'pocket otaku' for some reason. Kona-chan acted like she was mad after hearing it and called her a tsundere and how her words hurt, but she was grinning the entire time, and even I noticed that she wasn't mad at all with her usual cat-like smile. It seemed like the two were just playing with each other. Onee-chan began protesting that she isn't a tsundere, but that made Kona-chan even happier because, apparently, that's what every tsundere says when she's confronted with it. After that, onee-chan gave up and faced her with a smile, asking what she's up to. It seemed like this was their usual routine when onee-chan came to visit. Kona-chan seemed happy to see her smile because she called her cute and then told her she was doing the usual, reading manga and playing games. Onee-chan's cheeks reddened a little after being called cute, I think I can understand Kona-chan a little. Onee-chan then got mad and asked her about homework and how it looked like she had no intention of doing it. Kona-chan just said that there's no need for because now that onee-chan's there, she could simply copy hers. Onee-chan obviously got even madder and actually growled at her. But Kona-chan then actually made a good point because it seemed like onee-chan wasn't that motivated to do homework either. Onee-chan asked why that is and Kona-chan pointed out how she just grabbed a light novel from a shelf and made herself comfortable on Kona-chan's bed.

'Because you just grabbed a light novel out of the shelf and then threw yourself on my bed. I mean, you can use my bed as long and often as you want, just spent some time with me first or else I'll just feel _used_ , you know, Kagamin~.'

Onee-chan got embarrassed for a second, but then immediately began scolding Kona-chan because she was teasing her about loving her bed more than herself. It looks like Kona-chan recently bought a new bed because onee-chan then said that her new one is just so comfortable that not spending every free minute on it would be a total waste. According to her, not doing something on it should be a crime.

'…Konata…' Onee-chan let out a big sigh. 'I don't think that could sound any weirder even if you tried... Besides, your new bed is just way too comfy for not doing it as long and often as possible.'

Kona-chan started laughing because that apparently sounded way more suggestive than she could've ever made. Because of that, onee-chan blushed even stronger and hid her face in Kona-chan's sheets for some reason. A few moments passed before she spoke up again and made clear that she just meant lying on it and reading a light novel. After Kona-chan stopped giggling, onee-chan finally said that we came over to do our homework. Once she heard the word _we_ , Kona-chan looked super confused and then finally looked at the door where I was still standing. She was so focused on her chatting with onee-chan that she had not even noticed me. Onee-chan, too, totally forgot about me once she started talking with Kona-chan.

"H-Hello, Kona-chan…" I weakly greeted her once she finally noticed my presence. Onee-chan then urged me to finally enter the room while saying that she absolutely didn't forget about me, even though it was clear that this was precisely what happened. I sat down at the small table in Kona-chan's room and let out a big sigh because so much was going on. Onee-chan was a little concerned about me because I was so silent and actually asked why I was acting so odd! Me! It's not me who's being strange here! I wanted to shout, but I somehow managed to hold back. Onee-chan seemingly reluctant left the bed, too, and joined me at the table. She then urged Kona-chan to join us to do our homework together, but Kona-chan only said to onee-chan to notify once she's done so she can copy her homework. Kona-chan knew that the chances for that were basically zero, but she at least had to try, I guess. Unfortunately, Kona-chan wasn't even able to finish her sentence because Onee-chan had already stood up and whacked her on the head in no time at all. After that, she dragged her to the table, and the three of us started doing our homework.

About two hours of studying, okay, mostly by onee-chan, we finally decided to take a break. Kona-chan and I were already half dead and our brains about to explode, so we were happy about the break. Kona-chan immediately announced that she was bored and onee-chan immediately used the chance to tease her because if she's bored, what's the reason for a break after all. I think onee-chan became much better at handling Kona-chan, I believe.

'Well, I'm bored, but not desperate.'

'Grr.'

Kona-chan immediately replied that she was bored and not desperate, making onee-chan growl at her again. Feeling like she couldn't win, Kona-chan turned to me and asked for my opinion. While I'm not very good at playing games, they're still fun and so much better than studying. Because of that, I quickly agreed with her idea. While I was finally getting some attention, I decided to ask Kona-chan why she got a new bed because the two were talking about it earlier. Kona-chan told me that her old bed was super uncomfortable. Apparently, she also moves a lot in her sleep because she actually fell out of it a couple times. Because of that, she begged her dad for a new, and bigger one.

'And it's really comfortable. I think, even I would become super lazy with such a bed.'

Onee-chan chimed in and explained how comfortable the bed is, and easy to get lazy on it if you have no self-control. It seems like onee-chan wasn't even aware of her situation. Somehow, while Kona-chan and I were talking about playing a game, onee-chan made herself comfortable on the bed again while reading her light novel. I pointed out how lazy onee-chan looks like right now, but she didn't even react to me. Kona-chan explained to me why onee-chan likes her bed so much. It seems like her bed has some sort of magical power that traps girls on it once they come near to it. Kona-chan also said that she saw an anime where girls also got confined to a bed, but onee-chan immediately stopped her with a bright red face while saying that this sort of anime isn't something a high school girl or anyone at all should watch. Onee-chan then noted that there's no particular reason for it and it's definitely not like she likes Kona-chan's bed or anything. If you ask me, onee-chan was definitely lying, but I have no idea why she would do that. In response to that, Kona-chan called onee-chan a tsundere again, and after that, she jumped on her bed and hugged onee-chan. Onee-chan seemed surprised, and her face became redder. She told Kona-chan to stop clinging to her, but it didn't look like she was trying to push Kona-chan away as usual. It almost seemed like onee-chan was enjoying it a little bit.

"You two sure have gotten close, huh?" Those words just slipped out while I was looking at the two. Onee-chan seemed to be confused because she said that the little blue squirrel, she meant Kona-chan, is always acting like that. After realizing that onee-chan wasn't even aware of how she's changed, I didn't know what to say anymore and changed the subject. I saw the shelf full of light novels in Kona-chan's room and wanted to know why they're here because Kona-chan doesn't read them after all. According to Kona-chan, those were all onee-chan's novels. The two went shopping together, and onee-chan saw that huge light novel collection and needed to buy it, and she never took them home because onee-chan is super lazy. Because of that, onee-chan got angry at Kona-chan again and said the real reason was that they're too heavy to carry home. She also mumbled something like it's nice to always have something to read at Kona-chan's house, but I don't think she wanted anyone to hear, so I stayed silent. From the looks of it, Kona-chan heard it, too, though, and wanted to say something, but onee-chan quickly changed the topic. She hurriedly got the controllers from Kona-chan's game console and handed each one of us while urging to start the game already. Kona-chan looked really happy with her reaction. Now that I think about it, it may have been Kona-chan's plan all along…

'By the way, you are STILL clinging to me… I think it's rather hard to play like that, don't you agree?'

'Hmm... decisions over decisions... Well, I guess, for now, I'll prioritize the game, but don't think you're getting away that easy~!'

While we were playing the game, onee-chan finally noticed that Kona-chan was still clinging to her. She still didn't try to push her away, but just decided to argue with her. She pointed out that playing the game while getting hugged is pretty hard, and even more complicated for Kona-chan. I think onee-chan's priorities changed quite a lot… Kona-chan agreed to it, but also said that it's only a temporary compromise until they're done with playing games.

'You know you like it!'

'I don't think so…'

Onee-chan began to protest weakly, but Kona-chan simply said that onee-chan said she likes the hugging, too, so there's no need to hold back. I thought onee-chan would get angry and shout again, but instead, she just mumbled that it isn't like that while her cheeks were dyed entirely red now. I didn't know onee-chan can be this cute. Kona-chan also noticed it and gave her a last squeeze before letting onee-chan go. Onee-chan looked super embarrassed and wanted to concentrate on the game and said nothing at all anymore for a while.

"Ehehe…" I accidentally let out a small chuckle, and both turned to me and asked in perfect synch what's so funny. Unfortunately, because the two had the same reaction, I started laughing even more and needed a moment to calm down. I said that it's nothing, but they didn't believe me and questioned me at the same time again. Thanks to that, I started laughing once more, and both were staring daggers at me. It wasn't my fault, you know? It was like they trained to be in sync on purpose. I urged them to stop doing that because it was way too funny to concentrate on the game for me. I told them that they sound like an old married couple as a joke to make them stop, but the reaction as different from what I had imagined. Both, Kona-chan and onee-chan went silent, and they awkwardly looked away from each other while looking embarrassed, even Kona-chan was! Both then nervously stole a glance from each other for a while until onee-chan couldn't take it anymore.

'Game! Now!'

'Wow, my Kagamin~ is more thrilled to play a game than I am. I'm kind of happy right now. A-Anyway, yes, I think we should now start that game…'

She commanded everyone to focus on the game, and so we stopped talking for a while. Kona-chan seemed happy that onee-chan was even more eager to play a game than herself, but she, too, seemed relieved that the topic was over.

The day continued in a similar manner. We played the game for a couple hours, and we tried to study a bit more, but only onee-chan managed to achieve something. We also played some cards, and after some time, Kona-chan was again clinging onto onee-chan… I hadn't even noticed when it happened, but again, onee-chan didn't seem to care or actually disliked it. Well, she said something against, but there was no power in her protest, and nothing happened. After another hour or so later, I went home, alone because Kona-chan suggested having a sleepover. I was invited, too, but I had something to do on the next morning, and so I declined. Anyway, somehow, I felt more like a third wheel in the first place, so I was almost happy not to sleep over in the end because I would just get in the way.

…

 **…** **..**

"And that's what happened the last time when I was there, Yuki-chan…" Tsukasa ended her recollection and looked at Miyuki. "What do you think?"

 _'_ _Oh my, might it be possible that my theory's right after all? Are they really in love with each other? No, I have to make sure first before making such assumptions. It doesn't look like the two have noticed how they've changed around each other. Tsukasa-san has noticed that something is going on, but she has no clue what exactly. Ah, I want to talk to Tsukasa-san about my theory… But what if I'm wrong? It's a really sensitive topic, isn't it? It might ruin our friendship if I'm wrong… I wouldn't want that, but… Okay, I'll continue to stay silent and watch them some more before I say something…'_ Miyuki was lost in thoughts for a while after Tsukasa had finished her story about Konata and Kagami. "You're right, Tsukasa-san. There isn't anything wrong, just two… f-friends getting along well. Maybe Kagami-san just needed some time to get used to Izumi-san's _special_ behavior? Even if there's something going on, we should just let them be. I mean, it seems like the two are enjoying each other's company, so there's nothing to worry about." Miyuki agreed with Tsukasa while thinking about her. _'Yes, I really don't she should know what I'm thinking right now. I feel sorry for Tsukasa-san, but it could get even more awkward if she knows…'_

"That's true, Yuki-chan. As long as the two aren't fighting, we should just wait, I guess." Tsukasa agreed with her. "I think I'll keep watching them, though. Maybe I can find the reason why they're acting so different at least."

 _'_ _Oh, maybe she'll see the same what I think is happening and then we can talk about.'_ Miyuki liked her idea.

….

Suddenly, while the two were still talking with each other, Kagami rose from her chair in shock and had a complicated expression on her face that Miyuki and Tsukasa never saw before. It was a weird combination of fear, relief, disbelief, and confusedness. "No! That can't be true!" She yelled out of nowhere and dashed out of the class out of nowhere.

Tsukasa and Miyuki just looked each other in response. Both were extremely confused, and not to mention, startled, Tsukasa way more than Miyuki. Just about when Tsukasa was about to say something, Konata lifted up her head with a similar expression as Kagami on her face.

"Oh! That's bad, no… that's really bad!" Directly after shouting those words, she also left the class in a hurry.

Tsukasa and Miyuki were once more looking at each other in disbelief at what just happened. After a while, Tsukasa, still somewhat confused, started to talk again. "S-So… you really don't think they are acting weird, huh, Yuki-chan?"

"My, well… ehm... yes, something is going on between the two. Nevertheless, I still think they should handle it on their own until they want help from us. The best thing we can do is keep watching them."

"I guess you're right, for now… Maybe they had just a bad dream or something. I'm still worried, but I'll wait a bit with questioning them..."

Miyuki nodded in agreement. ' _Wow, that was unexpected right now. However, I think Kagami-san and Izumi-san looked like they had just realized what is going on with them. Something probably had happened over the last weekend. I assume the real problems will only start now, though. I would like to help, but I don't think I can. My knowledge of romance is rather… lacking. Maybe I should look it up a bit? Furthermore, I think they also have to find an answer on their own and even worse, accepting these feelings is only the first step... and probably the easiest. I hope they come to a good end…'_

"…Yuki-chan, Yuuuki-chan?" Tsukasa repeatedly tried to get Miyuki's attention because she was totally lost in thoughts.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Tsukasa-san. I was just thinking about something and spaced out a bit." She finally snapped back to reality after getting called out.

Just at this moment, the bell rang, signalizing that lunch break was over. A few moments later, Konata returned to the class and looked really pale, Kagami had probably gone directly to her own class. Tsukasa tried to ask Konata what happened because she was worried and wanted to know what is going on.

"N-Nothing much, I guess. I just realized something unexpected… I think I have to deal with it on my own, though, but thanks for worrying about me, Tsukasa…" Konata said so and returned to her seat where she immediately slumped down and once more got lost in thoughts.

With those events over, the rest of the school day ended uneventfully. Kagami and Konata continued to think about various things all day, Miyuki was torn between helping them or not, and Tsukasa was still worried, confused, and clueless.

* * *

 _A monologue unrelated to the upper story from Konata and marks the actual start of the story._

-Kagami-

Haa… Kagamin~ sure is something special. I've had that thought a lot during the past year ever since I met her, but lately… it's a permanent thought inside my brain.

I wonder why?

At the beginning of high school, even though that wasn't my plan at all, I became relatively fast, if not instantly friends with my classmate Tsukasa. I still wonder why, though. It probably was that misunderstanding with Tsukasa and the foreigner guy. A week after that, Tsukasa started bringer her twin sister Kagami to our lunch break. After seeing her, I instantly had a weird, but good feeling I never felt before about her.

\- _'She isn't your ordinary everyday person.'_ That was the first thought I had when I saw her, and I still don't know why.

We became friends right on the spot, good friends even, to be exact. I think she is the best friend I ever had. Eventually, I noticed that my behavior around, and with her, somehow began to change. Sure, I was still a hopeless otaku and all, but I wanted to be closer to her. Unconsciously, I started teasing her more and more, only to see the many great reactions she showed me, just like a grade school boy who found someone he liked. The undeniable fact that she is a tsundere only made it better because the reactions I got were the best. Kagamin~ is the cutest when she gets angry or flustered.

Of course, sometimes, I genuinely felt bad when I overdid it, but deep down, I always had the feeling that she likes getting teased by me, too, but is unable to admit because of her personality. Well, that's at least what I hoped was going on. Eventually, I even started hugging her spontaneously for whatever reason. I just felt like… I had to. Every time I see her at lunch, after school, when we meet up to do something with Tsukasa and Miyuki, every time we have a study session, where she let me copy her homework, or just playing a game together… I just feel great when I'm around her. I always try to spend more and more time with her, and I'm always sad when I haven't seen her for just a few days.

However, about two weeks ago, something changed even more. Miyuki, Tsukasa, Kagamin~, and I went to a concert by my favorite singer. There, some stupid guy in front of me was completely blocking my view of the stage. I was about to give up when Kagami suddenly grabbed my shoulders and changed her place with mine so that I could see the stage. She gave up her perfect place for me, and I know it was just a small act of kindness, but I was really happy that Kagami did something like this for me. My… _affection_ and the strange feelings towards Kagami since the day I met her only got bigger that day. After the concert, I ended up wanting to spend even more time at Kagami's house just because I wanted, no needed to see her as often as possible. Ever since then, I have begun to feel a little bit funny, but I have no idea what is going on and somehow… I really don't care. I just want to spend even more time with Kagamin~.


	2. Clingy Konata

Looking at the statistics, the Lucky Star fictions really seems a bit dead, but whatever, I'll continue and so, here's chapter two.

Like I said before, this chapter is more or less the real first chapter because here is where the story starts after the mentioned concert at the end of the last chapter.

* * *

 **Clingy Konata**

* * *

A little over a week since the concert passed and the four friends had as always gathered together at their lunch break in school and were chatting about nothing of importance, but unfortunately, for Kagami, Konata was bored.

"Kagamiiiin~?"

"I already don't like the sound of it…" Kagami had a bad feeling about this.

"Don't be so negative… I just wanted to ask if I can come over today."

"Oh, that's even worse than I imagined. Why?"

"Why not? Besides, Miyuki has a week full of dentist visits and Tsukasa lives in the room next to yours and so, I would end up with you anyway. That's why you're the only option."

"Aww… don't remind me of that!" Just hearing the word dentist was enough for Miyuki to start shivering.

"Poor Yuki-chan..." Tsukasa felt sorry for her because she didn't like the dentist either.

"Fine! I don't remember any homework. I don't really understand why you want to come over then, though." Kagami was a bit confused.

"Why is it always homework with you?" Konata tried to play innocent.

"That's my line." It didn't work

"Kagamin~, I was just a bit bored and wanted to spend some time with you..." Konata changed her play of innocence to one where she pretended to be hurt.

"Okay okay, you can come…" She gave up.

"Yay!" Konata was happy, stood up and started hugging Kagami for the usual, nonexistent, reason.

"Oi! Stop that already! Why are you bored in the first place? Knowing you, there has to be some new manga, anime or games you just bought." Kagami tried to push Konata back into her seat while she said so.

"Not really, most mangas and anime I'm following are on a break this month and games aren't due until next month either…. It's horrible!"

"Maybe taking a break is a good thing for you..." Kagami sighed in response.

"No… but now can I spent more time with Kagamin~!" Konata really didn't sound like it was bad.

"Ah... I see… Good for you and bad for me, huh?" She sighed once more.

"Aww, Kagamin~, you really hate me, don't you?" Konata became overly dramatic and shed a little tear.

"I didn't say that." Kagami tried to cheer her up a bit. "You're just hard to deal with, Konata."

"Coming from a tsundere... That's heavy…" Konata took unexpected high damage.

"What was that?"

"Nothing! That means I can come over, right?"

"Haa… Yes…" Kagami answered after yet another small sigh. She was going for a record today.

….

After school of the same day.

"Wait, you're coming right after school with us?" Kagami looked at Konata as the three, including Tsukasa, exited the train at the same station.

"Yeah, why not?"

"Uhm…" She wasn't able to come up with anything good.

"See? Let's go then!"

"This is going to be a long day." Kagami quietly said so to herself. She already started to look forward to tomorrow.

…..

A couple minutes later, the group had arrived at the Hiiragi home.

"We're home!" The twins announced while they entered their house.

"Welcome back!" Their mother, Miki, answered them. "Oh, Konata is with you."

"Yeah, she wanted to come over after school. I hope that's okay."

"Of course, Konata is always welcome here."

"See, even your mom loves me!" Konata was happy to find another supporter.

"Only because she doesn't know you as well as I do!"

"Hmpf." Konata pouted, which caused Kagami to giggle a bit.

"Let's go to my room already." Urging Konata to move, Kagami pushed her to her room. Tsukasa went to her own room first because she had a couple other things to do.

"So, what do you want to do?" Konata's plan to go was not having a plan in the first place.

"YOU ask ME what I want to do?" She was a bit perplexed because at least one stupid idea usually surfaces pretty quickly.

"Ehm yeah, I think I just did..." Konata scratched her head.

"That's a first... Hmm, we don't have any homework… I probably need a bit to think to find something similar for you."

"Kagamiiin~, you always say that I torture you for no good reason, but you aren't really better at all."

"Fight fire with fire… Well, at least my torture is good for your future." Kagami started laughing.

"Yeah yeah... Whatever, thought of something already?

"Not really, but I got a new shooter game last week, we could start with that for now."

"Kagamin~ wants to play a game, huh? Talk about firsts…"

"You want or not?" She got a little impatient.

"Pretty confident, aren't we?" Konata teased.

"Well, I'm good at shooters and you never played that game, right?" Kagami really was confident.

"Fool…"

…..

30 minutes later, Kagami actually had landed some good hits, but in the end, she was completely destroyed by Konata's superior gaming skills.

"How?" Kagami dramatically slumped down on the floor. "How is this even possible?"

"Kagamin~, Kagamin~, just because I don't know this particular game in question, it doesn't mean that I don't know 15 games with a similar gameplay." Konata was really proud of herself.

"You may look like you want to be praised, but I don't think this is a good thing."

"Don't be a bad loser." Konata had fun teasing her. "Look, the game has a two-player function. I'm sure that together, we can beat everything and everyone in no time at all."

"Fine… At least I can let out some steam at those useless virtual guys then."

"That's the spirit!"

…..

About three hours later.

"Wow, we already have beaten 50% of the game!" Kagami was amazed when she looked at the game statistics.

"I told you that we're a good team."

"I guess you're right… Although, you're clearly better than me." Kagami added after looking at the individual player stats.

"You were playing a support role. It's only natural that I have more kills."

"Thanks for the comforting Konata." Kagami still sighed while Konata giggled a bit.

"You're welcome~, but I think I should head home for today. It's already pretty late and I'm getting hungry." Exactly at the word 'hungry', Kagami's stomach growled as if someone had called for it. Konata tried her best not to laugh and Kagami started blushing.

"Don't!" Kagami seemed angry.

"What?"

"Don't say a word. Not even a single one."

"Aww, a blushing Kagamin~ is cute as always and a hungry Kagamin~ has some good sides as well." Konata didn't listen to her at all.

"And of course, you said something..."

"I'm sorry, but you know as good as I do that I can't resist something as easy as that. On another note, I think I have to come again tomorrow." Konata held back on the teasing for now.

"Eh? Why do you have to come again?"

"We have to finish the game, right?"

"I don't think I can survive another day with you."

"Aww, we both know you had fun."

"Not as much as you think." Kagami tried to stay calm, but her face was more honest.

"And there's the blush again. You really are bad at lying, Kagamin~." She teased her while tackling Kagami into a hug.

"Oi! I told you to not hug me like that out of nowhere!" Kagami shouted, but, at the exact same moment, her body betrayed her again as her stomach made another noise.

"Okay okay, I better go before I get eaten now. Bye~!" Konata said so and quickly left the house.

"… Well, she was kind of right... I didn't expect to have fun today, but for now… I need food!"

…..

The next day after school. Just like the day before, Konata was again in Kagami's room. However, much to Konata's distress, Kagami insisted on doing their homework before everything else and Tsukasa joined them because she also had to do her homework. Konata and Tsukasa actually managed to do an hour worth of homework, but that was all they could take.

"Kagamin~!" Konata stood up, went behind her and wrapped her hands around Kagamis neck. "Please let us stop now. My brain is melting and look, Tsukasa is already in a coma!"

"She's just sleeping... Only a couple more minutes, we're almost done and what did I tell you about hugging?"

"That you love it?"

"I'm pretty sure I didn't say anything like that."

"Maybe it was just my intuition…"

"More like imagination and so, stop it already."

"Only if we stop with the homework thing now." Konata showed her mischievous cat grin.

"Okay, fine…" Kagami gave up and packed her books away because she knew it was pointless.

"Wow, it actually worked… I-I mean, yay, game time!" Konata wasn't expecting it, but was happy again. She let go of Kagami, started the game and loaded the savegame from yesterday.

"Yeah yeah…" Kagami was way less enthusiastic for some reason.

They continued the game from where they stopped the day before and in the next three hours, the two killed every virtual enemy around until they saw the ending credits on the screen.

"Wow, that was intense. I've never beaten a game that fast before." Even Kagami was excited.

"Yeah, you were pretty good." Konata agreed while praising her.

"You're one to talk."

"Hehe, but now we have a new problem." Konata suddenly sounded overly serious.

"What is it?"

"Now that the game is finished, we have nothing to do for tomorrow..."

"Wait a moment! You want to come over again, tomorrow?"

"Sure!" Konata bluntly answered her question.

"Why?"

"Why not?"

"Because ehm… Yes, I'll probably go insane with you around me every single day."

"You can't tell me that you hadn't had fun, Kagamin~." Konata could read her like a book.

"W-Well…"

"Kagamin~." She started before standing up and tackling her in yet another hug. "Just say it~. You know it's true~."

"Okay... I guess… It wasn't that bad."

"Kagaaamiin~!"

"Fine! The game was fun with you."

"Was it that hard?"

"Yes!" Her red face confirmed it. "Now, get off me!"

"Okay... We still have to do something about tomorrow."

"So... No way out, I suppose?"

"Nope." Konata's resolute answer caused Kagami to sigh.

"Fine, looks like I have no chance… Whatever, what have you planned?

"Uhm… nothing yet. I'm going to tell you tomorrow."

"I kind of expected that... You should probably head home, anyway. It looks like we somehow forgot the time again." Kagami looked at the clock and was a little shocked at how late it already was.

"Yeah, you're right. Okay, see you tomorrow then, Kagamin~." Konata said and left afterward.

"What's up with her? She's almost like a normal person the last days... except the hugging maybe… Strange." Kagami was thinking that she missed something while looking for food to eat after Konata had left.

….

The next day at school, lunch break as usual.

"Kagamin~!" Konata waved her arms when she saw her favorite tsundere entering the classroom.

"Yo." Kagami greeted back and sat down on her chair next to Konata. "What's the topic?"

"Same as always, nothing out of the ordinary." Konata answered.

"Ah..." Kagami understood, nodded, and started eating.

"By the way, Kagamin~, I found an activity for today. Want to join, Tsukasa? Miyuki, you have still the dentist problem, right?"

"I-Izumi-san, please don't say that word here." Miyuki covered her ears with her hands.

"Poor Yuki-chan..." Tsukasa felt sorry for her again. "I'm sorry, Kona-chan, I promised mom to help with cooking today. We want to try something new, so it's probably going to take some time. What have you planned?"

"Okay… So, it's just me and Kagamin~, huh?"

"Wait, who said that I'm coming? Kagami didn't like that she wasn't even asked about her opinion.

"You did, yesterday."

"I don't really remember anything that."

"Yes, yes you did, but don't worry, you're going to like it anyway."

"Fine, resistance is wasted on you, anyway. So… what are we going to do today?" She gave up surprisingly fast and turned to Konata.

"Yay!" Konata stood up and…

"If you're going to hug me now you can go alone! You're way to clingy lately" Kagami warned her and Konata quickly sat down again.

"Pretty mean today… I found an interesting looking new café on my way home from you, yesterday."

"What's so special about a café?" Kagami wasn't very impressed by the suggested activity.

"There was a sign in front of it, saying that this café has 'the biggest all you can eat cake buffet in town.'"

"Biggest… cake… buffet… in town…" She quietly mumbled to herself. "Hmm… It certainly doesn't sound so bad."

"I knew you would like it, after all, you…" Konata was stopped with a warning.

"Watch your next words or you're going to regret it."

"Aww, that's unfair! I also want to go." Tsukasa wasn't happy to be left out.

"Yes, me too." Miyuki agreed with her.

"How about that? Kagamin~ and I are going to test it today and if it's any good, we all can go together next time." Konata tried to find a middle ground.

"Ok, sounds good." Tsukasa and Miyuki nodded in agreement.

"Uhh… two cake buffets in succession... I don't think that is good for my diet." Kagami complained, but the idea of just holding back a little never crossed her mind.

"Don't worry, you're fine." Konata smiled at Kagami, who suddenly started blushing in return.

"W-Was that a compliment from you?" Kagami couldn't believe that answer. "A compliment from the person who is always teasing me about my weight at every possible occasion?"

"Yeah, I think so…" She nodded while tilting her head. "Would a tease have been better? Besides, most of the time, you start the whole weight thing on your own and I just can't resist making a joke, that's all."

"I… uhm..."

"Cake buffet it is, right?" She became a little tired and wanted to finish already.

"Yes, we're going, Konata." Kagami gave up.

"Yay!"

…..

School was over and the two were on their way to the café.

"By the way, Konata, where is this café?"

"It's right at the station before the stop where I usually get off when heading home."

"Uhm… How did you find it after getting home yesterday?" Kagami was wondering how she ended up there.

"Well… I was a bit tired and dozed off for a couple minutes on the train. After I woke up again, I panicked and accidentally left the train a stop too early. While I had to wait 20 minutes for the next train, I decided to take a look around and found this café. Sadly, it was already closed and so, I have no idea if the sign was lying or not."

"I don't know what to say…" Kagami said while slapping her own forehead.

"Don't worry, Kagamin~, I'm sure it was fate that guided me to this place."

"As long as you're happy..." Kagami just sighed again.

"I'm with you... so, yeah." Konata cheerfully said and hugged Kagamis arm, but Kagami, on the other hand, was developing a new shade of red on her face right now.

"D-Don't say s-something like that in public and even more, don't h-hug me!" Kagami was too embarrassed to talk without stuttering.

"So… It's okay in private?" Konata teased.

"I-I haven't said that. Anyway, I think that's the café, right? It looks nice" She quickly tried to change the subject.

"Oh, yeah, that's it."

…..

Inside the café.

"Wow, it _is_ really nice here." Kagami looked pleasantly surprised.

"Welcome! How can I help you two girls?" A waitress appeared out of nowhere and asked them.

"A table for two please."

"Certainly, please follow me." The two followed her to a free table and a while later, a different waitress came to take the order.

"Have you girls already decided on something?"

"Yes, we'll both take on the all you can eat cake buffet." Konata decided for the two.

"Of course, drink refills are also included in the buffet."

"Is there a time limit or something else we should know?" Kagami sounded a bit worried.

"No, there is no time limit, but please take it a bit slow in order to not waste any cake that you can't eat at the end. Depending on how much is left over, we might charge an extra fee." The waitress explained the rules and walked away.

"No, I'm not doing that ever again!" Kagami remembered the last time they all visited a buffet, where they almost died on a cake overdose because of how much they overdid it. Konata simply nodded in agreement.

"Let's go and check this so called 'the biggest cake buffet in town'." Konata quoted the sign from outside the store and both left their table.

"Wow... I... I... wow!" Kagami did her best to find the right words, but failed when she saw the buffet in front of her.

"So many cakes... I-I don't even know half of them. How is this even possible?" Konata was equally overwhelmed when she saw it.

"I-I don't even know where to start..." Kagami managed to complete a sentence.

"I think, I'll take some of those I never saw before, just to find out what it is." Konata announced her plan and both then picked a large variety of cakes on their first plate before going back to their table.

"I'm going to get something to drink before I start, want something as well, Konata?"

"Yes, thank you. Cola would be nice."

After Kagami came back with the drinks, they started eating and both were amazed by the taste. The two went a couple more times for new cakes and never wanted to stop. About an hour later, both finally were so full that they could barely move anymore.

"Wow, I ate way too much. I just couldn't stop."

"Yeah, I know what you mean..." Konata agreed while rubbing her belly.

"And every single cake was so good."

"Yes, and the selection... I feel like I ate like fifty different cakes already and I still only tried like a third of them..."

"That was a god idea coming here, thanks, Konata." Kagami was glad that she agreed in the end.

"You're welcome... I would hug you, but sadly, I can't move right now." Konata teased her.

"Don't worry…"

"Still, I think this is the first time ever an advertisement sign didn't lie to me…" Konata looked like she had a lot of bad experiences with false advertisements.

"Yes, the selection is… I can't even find a proper word to describe." Kagami agreed with her.

It took them about half an hour later, but the two were able to move again and left the café before they stopped at the station.

"Do you want to do anything else? It's still early after all." Konata said while yawning.

"I would, but I really can't. All I can think of now is going to sleep… I ate way too much to move any more than that."

"Yes, to be honest, I feel exactly the same. Okay, I will find something for the weekend then." Konata gave up for the day because she also only wanted to meet up with her bed, but still didn't forget to make another appointment.

"Uhm… okay. Oh, there is my train… Well, see you at school tomorrow, I guess." She just agreed without thinking.

"See you." Konata waved while Kagami was boarding her train.

"Honestly, what is going on with her?" While Kagami was riding the train towards her home, she was thinking about Konata.

At home, both girls fell asleep almost instantly.

…..

The next day at school, it was Friday and as usual, the group spends their lunch break together.

"TWO kilos! I gained two kilos yesterday!" Kagami almost screamed in the class while sitting down at the group's table.

"But it was totally worth it." Konata didn't see the problem at all.

"Well, yes, that's right…" Her anger deflated pretty quickly.

"Kona-chan, how was the buffet? I hadn't any chance to talk with onee-chan yesterday because she instantly went to bed after coming home."

"Sorry, sis, I couldn't even walk anymore… I just wanted to sleep."

"Yeah, me too, first time I went to bed this early."

"So?" Miyuki was also interested.

"It was amazing." Both, Konata and Kagami, said at the same time.

"The cakes were so delicious!"

"And so many of them!" Konata agreed with her. "I tried to eat one of every cake, but I didn't even manage to try a third of them. We ate over an hour straight and I almost looked like I was pregnant after that."

"And it wasn't even really expensive. It was so totally worth it. Thanks again, Konata."

"Oh, that reminds me of something..." Konata stood up, walked up to Kagami and gave her a short hug before sitting down on her seat again.

"Huh? Oi! What was that?" Kagami was slightly confused by her action.

"Remember yesterday, when I was too full to hug you after you thanked me?"

"Oh yeah, right... Wait… That's still no reason to hug me now..."

"You don't sound very convincing, Kagamin~." Konata teased as she heard no malice in her words. "Anyway, are you three free on Sunday?"

"Yes." Miyuki and Tsukasa answered together.

"What is it now again?"

"I was thinking about weekend activities and remembered that hadn't watched a movie since forever. That's why, let's all go to the cinema on Sunday."

"What movie? I'm not very interested in an anime movie…" Kagami sighed before she even heard the suggestion.

"Uhm... I actually don't even know what's currently running in the cinema in the first place… You can choose a movie if you want." Konata said while scratching her head. "Unless it's a documentary because then, it's a no from me." She made a small correction to her suggestion.

"Or a horror movie!" Tsukasa instantly added her own demands.

"I... uh, okay. I suppose I'm in, then." Kagami somehow felt like she missed something, but it wasn't a bad idea and so, she agreed.

"But please choose something funny, onee-chan!" Tsukasa basically begged her.

"Sure, sure."

"Oh, and are you free tomorrow as well, Kagamin~?" Konata suddenly asked for another day.

"There's even more?"

"Yeah, I found a shooter game at home I totally forgot about and never actually played it. It also has a two-player mode. We could play it together again. Maybe, if I can stay over, we can rock it in one sitting."

"You sure are high maintenance lately, huh?" Kagami teased her a little.

"Well, as I told you… I'm pretty bored and the week was pretty fun until now, wasn't it?" Konata was being honest.

"Well, yeah… I have to ask my mom first, though, and it comes with a condition."

"That is?"

"We're doing homework first and then, we can destroy everyone in the game."

"I guess I have no choice, like, none at all, right…?" Konata was already accepting her fate.

"Exactly…" Both sighed, but for entirely different reasons.

….

The next day, and luckily, Kagami's mother had agreed to Konata sleeping over. She was currently on her way to Kagami and with her, she had a rather huge bag with the game, stuff for some homework, clothes, and two boxes of pocky sticks, she bought on a whim in a convenience store on her way. 20 minutes later, she arrived and was greeted by Kagami's mother at the door before she went upstairs to Kagami's room.

"Hello, Kagamin~!" Konata made a flashy entrance and startled Kagami a bit.

"D-Don't scare me like that. I almost had a heart attack..." She yelled back while trying to calm herself down.

"Sorry… I didn't see that you were too focused to notice me." Konata felt a bit bad as she apologized.

"It's fine… Just be careful next time, okay?

"Yes, by the way, what were you doing anyway?" She didn't know that she's going to regret asking.

"I already started my homework and now, you're joining me!" Konata could even see the fire burning in Kagami's eyes

"Straight to business as usual, that's my Kagamin~." Konata suffered and accepted an early defeat.

"You agreed to it, don't complain and start at once!"

"Yes, mom." Konata still felt the urge to tease.

"Just get over it that we can play your stupid game." She urged her to start doing her homework.

"Oh, looking forward, aren't we?" Konata became a little happy when she interpreted her words.

"S-Shut up and start." She got a bit embarrassed.

"Okay~!" Konata let it go for the time being. "Oh, by the way, I bought some pockys on the way here. One of them is this weird new flavor you talked about before."

"Really? That's nice. It was wasabi-melon, right?"

"Yeah, I have absolutely no idea how that's supposed to work with chocolate… Or with each other in the first place..." Konata was a bit weirded out by the flavor.

"There's only one way to find out." Kagami said while they both took a stick out of the box in order to try. Chocolate was more important than homework to even Kagami, after all.

"Well…" Konata had a complicated expression on her face. "It's better than I thought. I mean it couldn't be worse than I had imagined, but, to be honest, I'll stick with the original." She was pleasantly surprised, but still not convinced.

"Yeah, somehow, it's the same every time. New flavors are nice and all, but nothing beats the original in the end." Kagami agreed with her evaluation.

Their homework took about two hours in total to finish. Konata tried many times to end it early, but, ultimately, Kagami won and even Konata had done most of it on her own. However, after these hours, Konata wasn't exactly happy.

"Kagamin~, I'm dying over here!"

"No, you aren't!" Kagami knew how overly dramatic she can be.

"Yes, I am! I think my brain melted and started pouring out of my ears." So very dramatic.

"Eww…" Even imagining it was pretty disgusting.

"Anyway, let's eat something!"

"You really are hungry after that statement?" Kagami even more disgusted.

"Uhh… yeah."

"You're pretty weird…"

"That's news to me. So, that means you aren't hungry?"

"I didn't say that…" She didn't even realize that she played right into Konata's hand

"Kagamin~, don't be so unnecessarily complicated. Why are women always so complicated?" She tried to sound serious.

"Last time I checked, I had the impression you were one as well if I remember right."

"Unnecessary details, Kagamin~. By the way, I'm still hungry…"

"Uhm... okay. Anyway, I think Tsukasa was cooking something earlier, maybe they left something behind for us."

"Good, I'm fine with everything. Well, as long as you didn't cook, that is."

"Oi! That's mean! After what happened last time I'm not allowed anyway to coo…" Kagami suddenly stopped after realizing her own mistake and looking at Konata.

"Kagamin~?" She had an unbelievable huge grin on her face.

"No, I'm not telling you!" She had a really bad feeling about this.

"Kagamiiin~?" Which only got bigger.

"No! Stop it, or you won't get any food!" Kagami was getting desperate.

"You're no fun and mean as always..." Konata only started to pout.

When the two finished bickering, they went to the kitchen. Fortunately, Tsukasa had prepared something for the two as well.

"Wow, Tsukasa's cooking is as great as ever." Konata was back at full energy again.

"You don't have to tell me that." She looked really proud for some reason.

"I can totally see why you always whine about your weight with something like her at home!"

"Oi! I'll just pretend I didn't hear that." Kagami got angry.

"I could repeat it, but whatever… Let's play the game now."

"I think we should take a bath first before it gets too late."

"Uhh, nice idea!" Konata was getting excited.

"One after another!"

"Aww." The excitement was soon replaced by disappointment.

"You can go first." Kagami said.

"Okay…" She hung her head and went to the bathroom.

…..

Konata finished 20 minutes later and had also changed into her pajamas in the process, which basically was just a T-shirt and shorts. While wearing a towel around her neck, Konata came back and sat down on the futon Kagami had already prepared in the meanwhile.

"Ahh~, that was nice." Konata said while steam was still rising from her body. "Let's start that game now."

"How about I go and take a bath now."

"Oh, yeah…" She had already forgotten about that.

Kagami went into the bath while Konata started loading and setting up the game and 20 minutes later, Kagami was also finished with her bath and changed into her pajamas as well, long pants and a shirt. She was wearing her hair open instead of her usual twintails now.

"Aww… too bad that you need your twintails, the open hair looks good on you." She let out an incredibly smooth line. The second part, that is

"T-Thanks? Wait, what do you mean by 'need'?" Kagami was flustered and confused at the same time.

"You're a tsundere… Tsundere and twintails are fundamental for each other." Konata explained while entering her otaku mode.

"Damn, I should've seen that one coming!" She said while sitting down next to Konata on her futon, ready to play the game. Konata suddenly leaned over pretty close to Kagami.

"You smell good!" Konata delivered another smooth, albeit a little creepy, line. Kagami's face turned red almost instantly.

"W-What d-did you say? Wait, don't sniff me! That's incredibly embarrassing, besides you smell exactly the same."

"So, you sniffed me as well, huh?" Konata answered with a slightly dirty smile.

"S-Shut up, Idiot. That's just because… you obviously used my Shampoo…" Kagami started blushing even more while thinking about something. _"Seriously though, she made me two compliments and the pockys, well one and a half compliments… with the tsundere stuff and all, but still, what's up with her lately?"_

"Let's start the game. I have already selected everything important. Let's kick asses."

"You don't have to tell me that." Kagami added with a fire burning in her eyes.

They started the game and like expected, the two were an unstoppable duo, killing every enemy and clearing every level in record time. Time flew by and completely unnoticed by them, it became soon almost 2 in the night. As a cut scene appeared on the screen, Kagami took a quick glance at the clock and was shocked.

"Konata! Look at the time! We should stop now. I'm pretty tired and you look even worse. I bet you didn't sleep at all last night, right?" Kagami said while letting out a yawn.

"I slept at least three hours last night!" She looked strangely proud, but her own yawning didn't help and only made clear that three hours are nowhere near enough. "Kagamin~, that was the last cutscene, the boss is the only thing left. It's only 8 minutes more, 10 at maximum."

"Okay, 10 minutes don't change anything either, I suppose…"

Exactly 17 minutes and 12 seconds later, the ending credits were running over the screen.

"Finally, let's go to sleep now, Kona…*yawn*...ta. Konata?" She didn't answer and Kagami suddenly felt something pressing on her shoulder. "Konata, don't start hugging me now!" However, Konata wasn't hugging her, she fell asleep and unconsciously leaned against Kagamis shoulder. "Well, I guess that wasn't intentional, right? Right?" Kagami still had her doubts.

Kagami also felt extremely tired by now. She couldn't even stand up anymore and fell more or less immediately asleep right on the spot. Both sitting on the floor while leaning with their backs against Kagami's bed and Konata had buried her head on Kagamis shoulder.

….

The next 'morning', a little after 11 the be exact. Both were still sleeping on the floor, but their position slightly changed. Kagami was now lying between the bed and the futon. Konata, who was slightly in front of her, was unable to move for some reason. It looked like somehow, both fell over and ended up like that.

"Ka~gamin~." Konata said while releasing a small yawn.

"…" Nothing.

"Kagamiiin~." She tried again.

"What?" Kagami had her eyes still closed.

"Kagamiiiiin~~~."

"What is it?!" Kagami was relatively awake now and finally opened her eyes. "Wahh! You´re way too close! Go away!"

"I would love to… well, not really, but it's not like I can in the first place. You would have to release me first for that…"

"What do you mean?" Kagami was still unaware of the situation.

"You're clinging to me pretty tight right now, Kagamin~."

"W-What? I'm not hugging you!" When she finally looked down and saw her arm tightly around Konata's waist, she immediately released her 'hug'. "Oh, I-I'm sorry, I-I didn't realize it." Kagami muttered and her face developed a new intensity of red that humanity had never seen before.

"Don't worry, Kagamin~. It's not that I disliked it, besides, I hug you all the time and so, you can have your fun, too."

"It wasn't intentional!" Kagami yelled in defense with a still very red face.

"You don't have to deny it~. Anyway, how?" Konata completely ignored her struggling.

"How what?" Kagami looked puzzled because she didn't understand what Konata meant.

"How did you… err, we end up like that."

"Oh, uhm… We were playing your game till after 2 a.m. and you fell asleep on my shoulder." At this point, she started blushing stronger again.

"And you didn't stop me? That's nice." Konata started smiling gently.

"I was too tired to do it and I fell asleep before I even could go to my own bed. The next thing I remember is you waking me…"

"Aww, that's almost cute." She teased. "Wait!" Konata suddenly sounded extremely serious.

"W-What?" Kagami was surprised at her sudden mood change.

"Did we finish the game?"

"Don't scare me like that! Uhm… I think so." She pointed at the TV, which was still showing the last page of the credit section.

"Ah, looks like it. That's good then." Konata turned to normal again.

"You sure a dedicated." Kagami was impressed and disappointed at the same time.

"Of course I am!"

"Sadly, it's with the wrong things." The disappointment won over.

"Not for me." Konata proudly was proud of her dedication.

"Yeah yeah… I think we should get up now. It's already pretty late."

"Let's wait a bit, okay? My back hurts pretty bad… I mean, not the parts where you hugged me, those were soft, but the floor was pretty hard."

"That doesn't sound weird at all, absolutely not… Don't play the old lady and dirty old man at the same time and get up." Kagami decided to stand up first. However, the stabbing pain in her own back said no to this plan. "Okay, maybe we could wait a couple minutes..." She said as she laid down next to Konata on the futon."

"Kagamin~?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry." Konata laughed a bit after hearing the apology and Kagami couldn't help it and started to laugh as well. A couple minutes passed and the two then heard a knocking on the door.

"Onee-chan? Kona-chan? Are you up yet?" Tsukasa asked from the other side of the door.

"More or less." Konata vaguely answered.

"You can come in, sis."

"Okay… uhm… What are you two doing?" Tsukasa looked slightly confused after she entered the room and saw the two lying on the futon.

"That's a bit complicated…" Konata started.

"… We were playing a game a bit too long and fell asleep on the floor…" Kagami continued the explanation.

"And today, we woke up in an interesting position. Kagamin~ was…" Kagami interrupted Konata because she didn't want to give Tsukasa any weird ideas.

"We were still lying on the floor. It was seriously uncomfortable and now our backs hurt a ton."

"And therefore, we are lying down like that right now." Konata finished their explanation.

"I see..." Tsukasa was amazed by the duo. "Looks like you two had fun at least."

"Yeah, the game was great. The homework part before, not that much."

"But it was necessary."

"But are you two fit for the cinema later?" Tsukasa was a bit worried about their condition.

"Sure." Both said together. "Just give us a couple more minutes..."

"Want to cook something together later, Tsukasa? I'm starting to get hungry. I was thinking to ask Kagami for a second, but I suppose you're the better choice for that…" Konata wanted to avoid unneeded casualties.

"You're probably right... Sure, I would love to cook with you." Tsukasa answered her and both completely ignored Kagami.

"Oi! I heard that, you two!" Kagami got angry at them.

"So, you have something to add to our worries, Kagamin~?"

"Be happy that I can't move right now!"

"Give us 30 minutes and we'll come down." Konata ignored Kagami again and looked at Tsukasa.

"Okay, I'll start preparing then."

"Uhm, Tsukasa?" She was about to leave when Kagami suddenly had a question.

"Yes, onee-chan?"

"Why are you already awake?" Kagami asked, perfectly knowing that it was already pretty late for normal people, but still extremely early for Tsukasa on a Sunday.

"Well… I was pretty tired yesterday… I went to bed at 9 and so, I already slept my usual 14 hours on a weekend."

"14 hours of sleep!?" Konata and Kagami said together. "I wish I could do that…"

The two managed to get out of the futon 30 minutes later and changed into normal clothing. After a visit in the bathroom, all three girls were in the kitchen now. The remaining Hiiragi family was at their shrine today.

"I also want to help!" Kagami suddenly said after watching Konata and Tsukasa preparing food together.

"No!" Tsukasa and Konata immediately declined Kagami's request.

"That's not fair…" She started to pout.

"Kagamin~, we're just concerned about your AND our health, that's all." Konata answered while Tsukasa was nodding furiously. "Oh, and the kitchen…"

"You two can be pretty mean on your own, you know?"

"Are we jealous, Kagamin~? Don't worry, you're still our unrivaled tsundere queen."

"Shut up…"

"See!" Konata raised a fist in victory, only to get hit on her head by Kagami. "Ouch." She added and Kagami cheered up a bit.

Tsukasa and Konata finished the cooking soon after. They made some miso soup, rice and meat Tsukasa found in the fridge. Kagami just sat there and looked at the two flying through the kitchen and doing various things, she couldn't even follow everything.

"Wow, you two should start a restaurant…" Kagami said while eating. Konata and especially Tsukasa felt rather proud at the praise from Kagami.

"I bet you just want free food from us then."

"That's not what I meant, Konata." She pouted. "It's just very good." She mumbled afterward.

"Don't worry, Kagamin~, you would never have to pay, isn't that right, Tsukasa?"

"Exactly." All three girls started laughing afterward.

After 30 minutes of chatting and eating passed, they started cleaning the kitchen, the only task Kagami is allowed to do there.

…

"I think we should slowly head to the station. We were supposed to meet up with Miyuki at 14:00, right?"

"Yes, oh, it's already this late." Kagami added after looking at the time on her phone.

The three went to the station and picked up Miyuki. The four agreed on a rather cheesy comedy movie at the cinema because the conditions of no anime, no horror, and no documentation narrowed down the possible choices quite a bit. The movie was good, not exactly amazing, but good and the group had a good time. Afterward, they went to a nearby café for a cup of tea. When they finished, the girls went back to the station again and said goodbye to Miyuki. By now, it was already evening.

"Wow, that was a long day…" Tsukasa looked visibly tired. "But it was fun."

"Yeah, it was… but my back still hurts..." Konata complained a bit.

"Yes, mine as well." Kagami nodded in agreement. "I bet I'll sleep like a baby tonight."

"And I don't even have to pretend that I have done my homework tomorrow at school because I actually did it for once!"

"Yeah, but you needed a lot of help." Kagami sarcastically added.

"Thanks again, Kagami-sama!" Konata teased her a bit and tackled Kagami in one of her 'surprise' hugs.

"Don't call me that! And why are you hugging me again!? We are on a train, it's embarrassing!"

"Kagamin~, I had to return the favor from last night where you hug…" A blushing Kagami stopped Konata from continuing.

"Oi! Watch your words or I'll kill you!"

"What happened, onee-chan?" Tsukasa looked a bit confused and asked.

"Nothing, absolutely nothing." Kagami answered while Konata just giggled.

"Oh, that's my stop." Konata was a bit sad that she couldn't tease Kagami now about the topic and just waved as she exited the train.

"Bye!" All three said almost at the same time.

 _"Wow, this week really was something else. I actually had fun basically the entire time with Konata..."_ Kagami was thinking about her friend in amazement. _"If that's how Konata is without her mangas and stuff, I should start thinking about burning down Akiba or something like that..."_ Kagami started smiling with a very dark look on her face. _"Nah, better not… Besides, that wouldn't be fair for her."_

The next week continued in a similar manner. Konata found another game and ended up spending almost every day with, but on Friday of the week, she had a new idea…

* * *

.

* * *

No, I have no idea if wasabi-melon pocky really exist, but I wouldn't be surprised if they do. There are really a lot of weird flavors out there.

Anyway, just like this chapter, the next one will also come in 1-2 weeks.


	3. Flower viewing

Beginning of April, a Friday. As usual at school, the four girls were enjoying their lunch while talking about random topics, which were as meaningless as they could be, but always fun to talk about. Their conversation soon got stopped by Konata, who had, as so often, a random idea floating in her head that she had to voice out.

"Hey, I have an idea!"

"… I don't have a good feeling about that..." Kagami already wanted to stop her.

"Aww… come on, Kagamin~, you sound like you never have fun with my ideas…" Konata sounded as sad as possible while shedding a fake tear.

"Okay okay, I'm sorry... Especially lately, you really do occasionally have some decent ideas.

"Thank you, Kagamin, your tsundere trait sure isn't easy to handle sometimes…" Konata was perfectly happy again and slyly started to hug her in the confusion.

"You surely recover fast, don't you?"

"So… Kona-chan, what is your idea?" Tsukasa tried to get back to the topic.

"It's already pretty warm outside and the flowers and other stuff are already blooming pretty strong and so, let's go flower viewing!"

"I knew it would end up with something weird… Wait, what did you say?" Kagami snapped before realizing what Konata had actually said.

"Kagamin~... you know, flower viewing, looking at things like cherry blossoms and so on while having a picnic." Konata was slightly disappointed in Kagami's distrust.

"My, that sounds pretty nice, Izumi-san." Miyuki liked Konata's idea.

"Yes, Yuki-chan is right. It really sounds like fun, Kona-chan." Tsukasa agreed with her.

"I'm sorry… It really sounds good. Do you have a fever or something like that?" Kagami said so while touching Konata's forehead, pretending to check her temperature.

"I'm fine, Kagamin~..." Konata started pouting and genuinely looked a bit sad now.

"Stop making me feel bad already, okay? I like the idea." Hearing that, Konata immediately cheered up and started hugging Kagami even tighter. "But you really should let go of me now. It's getting slightly embarrassing, you know?"

"Please~, we both know you like it. Additionally, you were the one who just touched me after finding some weird excuse for it." She referred to the fever joke.

"N-No... T-That wasn't an excuse.. _._ Anyway, we should plan that flower viewing now, right?"

"That's probably a good idea." Miyuki and Tsukasa said at the same time.

"The best thing would be to split the preparations. Food, drinks, snacks and a good place. Everyone should choose one thing." Kagami suddenly sounded pretty eager.

"I know some good places and, no, Kagamin~, I mean, really good places and don't even think about taking over the food part!" Konata said while glancing over at her.

"… I didn't even say anything. No, I'll take the snack part. Feel free to tease me now." Kagami got slightly annoyed.

"Why should I? It's your specialty after all. Choosing this is the only logical thing to do." Konata's grin almost reached all the way to her ears.

"…" Her only answer was a sigh.

"I would like to take the drink part if that's okay?" Miyuki asked.

"Sure, Yuki-chan, after all, I like to cook. I wanted to take that part, anyway." Tsukasa happily answered.

"With the boring things done, how does Sunday sound? The weather report says it would be very warm there."

"Wow, it seems you really planned all that rather well, I'm impressed, Konata."

"Yeah, I guess, I have my moments, Kagamin~."

"Now I would wish it would already be weekend… even more than normal." Tsukasa wanted to go right now.

"Yes, I also look forward to it and I hope the weather really stays nice." Miyuki agreed with Tsukasa's answer.

"Well, I guess even I can't deny being a bit excited…" Kagami also looked forward to it, although, she still wasn't fully convinced by everything.

"You won't regret it, Kagamin~."

"If you say that, my doubts will only grow…"

…

Sunday morning in the Hiiragi house, the day of the flower viewing. Kagami was rather stressed out about something.

"Oh no, I forgot to buy the snacks... I don't even want to imagine Konata's teasing if I appear there without anything." She started to panic a little.

"Where are you going, onee-chan?" Tsukasa, who was in the kitchen, saw her sister wanting to leave the house.

"I just forgot something… Don't wait for me, I'm coming straight to Konata's place after I got it."

"Well, okay then." Tsukasa didn't understand a thing, but also didn't think too much about it.

"… Wait, did Konata even say where the place is?"

"Kona-chan wanted to mail the location of the place to us later."

"Oh… I have a bad feeling about that as well. Whatever, see you later, sis."

"Bye, onee-chan."

….

Meanwhile, at Konata's house.

"Damn, I totally forgot to check the places of the flower viewing yesterday… Stupid Kuroi-sensei, I shouldn't have accepted the invitation from her to the raid. Eight hours for almost nothing… I have never seen such a bad party since I started playing that game. I mean, sensei and I carried the complete group the entire time. We should have kicked them for being such useless idiots, but finding new ones, _who aren't useless_ , is also hard… Stupid game…" Even for Konata's standards, the last night was a waste of time.

"I have to hurry now. If I don't find a good place, Kagami is so going to kill me. I'll never hear the end of it…"

"Where are you going, Konata?" When she was about to leave the house, her father had stopped her.

"To the flower viewing, dad. I'm pretty sure I told you."

"Yes, you did, but isn't it a bit early?" Ho pointed at the clocked that showed it was still morning.

"Well, I kind of forgot something pretty important and so, I'm a bit in a hurry."

"I see." Her father said to no one because his daughter was already gone.

"… Now what? I'm sure I can't visit all places I thought of... Yeah, not nearly enough of time." Konata was thinking aloud. "I guess, I'll go straight to my favorite place and hope that there is no one... Nah, even if there is someone, I'm sure I can find a way to get rid of them." She had a dangerous smile on her face.

…..

"Yes!" Konata shouted as she arrived at the place. "No one is here so, plan ' _annihilate every human being in the area_ ' can be saved for another time!" She thought while looking dead serious. "Hmm… Yep, this place really looks good." She emailed the others the information of where she is. However, because of the gaming from last night, she was extremely tired and so, she decided to take a quick nap under the huge cherry blossom tree where she was right now. After leaning against the tree, she fell asleep at once.

….

Meanwhile, on Kagamis side:

"Oh, a mail from Konata. Damn, she actually has a place... I wasn't expecting that. I was sure she would simply forget about everything. I really have to hurry now and find some snacks..." Kagami was slightly worried after she read the message from Konata. "Yes! I finally found an open store. Hmm… The selection of snacks is not very big here... Well, they have pocky, I guess that's fine enough." She picked several different flavored pockys and a few different packets of chocolate-related goods before leaving the store again. "That went better than expected." She sighed in relief. "Now there's one thing less Konata can tease me about and that's always a good thing. Although, now that I think about it… I guess her teasing somehow lessened anyway, a bit at least. I wonder why… It started right after the concert we went to, didn't it…? Well, whatever, let's find Konata and check out the place she found." Saying so, he went to the train station near the convenience store, she had just left behind and took the train towards the nearest station to where Konata's place is.

…..

"This place really is at the end of the world..." She complained to herself after walking 15 minutes from the station and another 10 minutes later, she finally reached the places Konata told her and was stunned by the sight.

"Wow...! This place is really beautiful!" She was looking at a small green meadow near a shallow river. In the middle of the field was a really huge cherry blossom tree. Its blossoms were already in full bloom. Because of that, the tree was completely wrapped in a beautiful shade of pink. Some of the petals had already started to fall down, which almost made it look like it was snowing on the meadow.

"I don't think I ever saw anything as beautiful as this before." Kagami was amazed by the sight. When she started to look for Konata, she a huge red blanket neatly laid out under the tree and some of the blossoms were already lying on the blanket. Then she saw Konata sleeping under the tree with her back leaning against it.

"Even she looks peacefully in a place like this, huh? Her sleeping face even looks a bit cute… Hmm..." She suddenly felt the urge to sit down beside Konata. She walked over to her and looked a couple seconds at the peaceful face of the girl in front of her with a gentle smile on her face. Kagami sat down next to Konata, leaned slightly against her and soon felt sleepy as well. "Konata sure feels warm." This was one of the last thoughts she had before falling asleep on her own.

…

At the same time near the train station not far from the Hiiragi home.

"Ah, Yuki-chan, thanks for meeting me here!" Tsukasa spotted Miyuki at the station and quickly ran over to her.

"Hello, Tsukasa-san, it was no problem at all, but why didn't you come with your sister?" She noticed that Tsukasa was waiting alone for her.

"Well, she said that she forgot something and sprinted out of the house a couple hours ago while saying that I shouldn't wait for her. This is the reason I asked you to come because I'll probably, no surely… only get lost if I search Kona-chan's place on my own."

"That's weird... However, Izumi-san's place really is in a rather secluded place, going together is probably a good thing."

Unfortunately, it took almost an hour before the two finally reached the flower-viewing place. Tsukasa didn't know that Miyuki's sense of direction is almost as bad as her own. Because of that, they needed almost 30 minutes more than they had initially thought.

"Wow, that was a long journey…" Both said in unison and were slightly exhausted, but the complaining stopped as soon as the two saw the stunning beauty of the place, which equally overwhelmed them as much as Kagami before.

"Wow!" Both said before seeing their two friends sleeping under the tree.

"Oh~, they sure look cute together…" Tsukasa giggled a bit. Kagami and Konata were both fast asleep and Konata's head was resting on Kagami's shoulder, while her head was pressed on the smaller girl's one. To complete the picture, both had a faint smile on their lips.

"Yes, it's a really peaceful sight." Miyuki added. _"I wonder what is up with those two..."_ She added something inside her mind.

"Kona-chan is really clingy lately... I wonder if something happened."

"What do you mean, Tsukasa-san? Wasn't Izumi-san always like that?" Miyuki was a bit confused because she didn't see much of a difference.

"Sure, she always somehow was close to onee-chan, but after the concert we went to last month, she came very often to our place, almost daily actually, and playing with my sister. Somehow, it always ended with Kona-chan clinging to onee-chan for some reason all the time, I mean… like, way more often than she usually does..."

"I see..." Miyuki nodded. _"Weird, and Kagami-san doesn't seem to dislike it as much as she used to, by looking at the two right now..."_

"Hey, Yuki-chan, let's take a photo of the two. They look way too cute to not do it." Tsukasa said as she took out her phone.

"That's a nice idea, Tsukasa-san, but I have a camera with me. The quality should be better."

"Good, but let me take one with my phone first, so that I can send it to them."

"Okay." Miyuki agreed. _"I wonder how the two will react."_ Tsukasa took their photo and sent it to the phones of Kagami and Konata. Miyuki, afterward, also took one with her camera.

"Oh, also let us do a group photo!" Tsukasa was having fun.

"Sounds good." Miyuki nodded. She placed her camera on a nearby stone and set up a timer. The two sat down next to their two sleeping friends and waited for the timer run out. "Well, let's set up the picnic for now. Let them sleep for a bit more."

"Good idea." The two opened their bags and began to spread out the food and the drinks on the blanket. Tsukasa also found the snacks Kagami bought and took them out while jiggling a bit to herself. _"So that's what onee-chan forgot…"_

10 minutes later, Konata and Kagami almost simultaneously woke up and looked at Tsukasa and Miyuki chatting about something.

"Good morning, sleepyheads." Tsukasa tried her best not to laugh.

"… Uhm… why didn't you wake us up, sis?" Kagami was still half asleep.

"You two were way too cute to look at." Tsukasa said. "We just couldn't do it."

"Yeah, sure... she and c-cute." Kagami said while looking at Konata and got slightly flustered because she remembered that she had said something similar before.

"I've just woken up and got already insulted… Kagamin~, you sure are mean." Konata complained while yawning at the same time.

"Just look at the picture, onee-chan."

"What picture?" Both asked simultaneously.

"Look at your phones, you two."

They took their phones out and opened the new message they got from Tsukasa. After a couple seconds of carefully investigating the picture, Kagami began to blush and moved a bit away from each Konata because they were still sitting under the tree just like they were in the picture. Konata wasn't that affected, but she as well looked slightly embarrassed. Despite the blushing, both still had their smile. Miyuki and Tsukasa were only quietly giggling at the sight of the two.

"W-Why did you take such a photo, T-Tsukasa?" Kagami tried to maintain her calm, but she was failing.

"Why? You two were cute together that I wanted a photo of it. Is it that bad?" Tsukasa looked with her irresistible puppy eyes at her sister.

"I like it." Konata was just being honest.

"Y-you do?" Kagami started blushing right again after just calming down a bit.

"Yeah... It's a nice photo..." Konata answered while putting away her phone, just after she made the picture her new wallpaper.

"Well… I suppose it's not that bad…" Kagami mumbled. She looked at the picture on her phone again and did the same Konata did before. It was clear that she also liked the picture after all.

"We also took one with all four of us with my camera." Miyuki added.

"Oh, okay..." Konata and Kagami answered together. However, the complete lack of enthusiasm was unable to ignore.

"I can send you the photos later when I get back home. I also took a better-quality version of the two of you."

"Sure, sounds good, Miyuki." Konata said, though, she only wanted one the photos.

"Let's eat something, I'm hungry." Kagami gave the cue and her stomach agreed with a growl, while her smile cramped up.

"Yeah, me too." Konata agreed to her suggestion. _"The mood is too good for teasing... Save that for later."_ She restrained herself.

 _"Wow, she is really nice today."_ Kagami added in her mind, only because she didn't know what Konata was thinking. With that said, the four started eating.

"Ah~, Tsukasa, your cooking is really good after all!" Konata was really enjoying the food.

"Thanks, Kona-chan, but I think you can cook even better."

"I'm not sure about that..." She took another bite. "Well, let's just agree we're both better than Kagamin~."

"That's true." Tsukasa laughed a little.

"Oi, I heard that!" Kagami got annoyed. _"So much for being nice..."_

"You don't think so?" Konata grinned at and Tsukasa tried her best to stop laughing, but failed.

"I-I didn't say that..." Kagami mumbled. "… It's just not nice."

"I'm sorry, Kagamin~… Well, you have enough other good points in order to make up for it, so everything's okay."

"W-What did you say?" As indicated by her cheeks, she wasn't expecting such a compliment.

"You heard me." Konata simply answered. A couple seconds of silence later, Kagami had calmed down herself a little and changed the topic.

"Konata?"

"Yes?"

"How did you find this place here?"

"I would prefer not to answer this…" Konata was clearly hiding something. "You'll probably just get angry with me."

"You found the location in an anime, right?" It wasn't hard to take a guess for her.

"Well… yes."

"You know, I should get mad at something like that, but this place is way too nice to do that." Kagami only smiled at Konata.

"You think so?"

"This place is extremely beautiful!" Tsukasa and Miyuki backed her up.

"Yes, Konata, this is one of the, if not the most beautiful place I ever went to, for flower viewing."

"I'm glad to hear!" Konata was really happy about it.

After they finished eating, they stayed a couple more hours, looking at the scenery, talking and eating the snacks Kagami brought. At some point, Konata started clinging to Kagami again. She tried to protest in the beginning, but she gave up rather quickly. In fact, she never gave up that fast ever before. She actually almost looked as happy as Konata herself.

 _"Somehow, the two really are different than normal… Tsukasa-san was right."_ Miyuki thought about what Tsukasa has said earlier while watching Konata and Kagami.

"Man, pockys sure are the best." Kagami said so while she opened the last box she brought.

"You don't have to tell us that, Kagamin~." Konata's answer caused Tsukasa to giggle.

"…" Kagami tried to say something, but decided against it in the end because her chances didn't look good, judging by the two empty pocky boxes right next to her.

"But yes, they really are good." Konata admitted and stole one out of the box Kagami was holding.

…

Half an hour later, when the day had already progressed late into the afternoon.

"It's getting late, I think we should start thinking about heading home." Miyuki said after she looked at the time.

"Yes, it's also getting a little cold." Kagami added.

They started packing their belongings and headed towards the station. At the station, Miyuki said her good-bye because she had to take a different train. The remaining three girls took the same one toward their homes.

"It was a really nice trip, Kona-chan. Thanks for inviting us!"

"No problem, Tsukasa. I'm happy you had fun."

"Yes, I have to admit this was by far the best flower viewing I've ever been to." Kagami also had a good time.

"Praise from Kagamin~, I can't believe it!"

"…" Again, she decided against saying something to preserve the good mood.

"Kagamin~?"

"Yes?"

"Can I call you later?"

"Sure, why?"

"Homework."

"Should've seen that coming…" She was ashamed of herself that she even asked something so obvious.

"Kagamin~, please~-"

"Konata… I already said yes, didn't I? Just try to do a bit on your own before calling me, okay?"

"First, praise from Kagamin~ and now, homework..." She fell on her knees in a dramatic way and shouting that this was the best day ever. Kagami couldn't help laughing a little while looking at her.

"Sure… ehm, Konata, this is your stop." Kagami snapped her back to reality when the train stopped.

"Oh, thanks. Bye Kagamin~, Tsukasa!"

"Bye!" The twins said before Konata exited the train.

"Konata is sure something else..." Kagami let out another sigh, but this time, she didn't look exhausted while saying it.

"That's true." Tsukasa added. "But it's always fun with her."

"I wouldn't say always, but yes, especially lately, she has her moments." Kagami agreed with a little smile on her lips.

Later that day, Konata called Kagami for homework. She had done almost a fourth of it on her own, which was a new personal record. With that, and another 40 minutes chatting over the phone afterward, the day ended for the two.

…..

The following day at school and Konata was up to something again.

"Konata! Don't take my phone!" Kagami yelled when she saw that her phone was gone.

"Why? Some texts from boys, I shouldn't see, Kagamin~?" Konata teased with a grin on her face.

"No, no texts from boys. It's just private, okay?" Kagami tried to hide the fact that she also set the picture of the two from yesterday as her wallpaper.

"Not very convincing~." But Konata still, much to Kagamis surprise, handed the phone back to her without much resistance.

The four girls continued to chat like usual on their lunch break afterward. Their conversation was a bit about the event from the last day, but mostly about random stuff nobody normally cared about.

"Konata?"

"Hmm?"

"Can I come over today?"

"Sure. Wait, why?" She agreed without thinking. It was rare that Kagami wanted to come over to her place and so she was a bit surprised.

"No particular reason… I just thought that because you came over so often lately, I thought... you know..."

"Sure, less moving is always a nice thing."

"Okay." Kagami said right before the bell, signalizing the break was about to end, rang. With that, she said goodbye and returned to her own class.

* * *

.

With that, most of the story setting is done. Konata wants to get closer to Kagami since the concert and mow Kagami also wants to get closer to her after the flower viewing. The two will spend more quality time together in the next chapter and Konata will have to deal with an (over-) determined Kagami after making a suggestion she already regretted before she finished it.


	4. A fatal promise

Just like she had announced last time, Kagami held her promise and decided to visit Konata today.

"Hello, Kagamin~!" She arrived at Konata's house and was greeted by a very happy sounding girl at the door before entering.

"Hello, Konata… Don't shout like that… You're not alone here."

"Actually, I kind of am. My father is on a work trip since last week and at least for the whole rest of the week." Konata answered to her assumption.

"So, he's not here? Oh, that's good to hear."

"Oh... you want some private time with me, Kagamin~?"

"No, not that. Your dad is just, uhm… you know what I mean." She didn't want to openly insult him.

"Well, yes, but he's not _that_ bad." Even the daughter herself had a hard time.

"But still, two weeks alone... Isn't that a bit much?"

"Not really. I mean, it's almost no difference. I'm the one who cooks and do almost all of the household chores anyway."

"I see." Kagami answered while waiting for the teasing because she can't do any of this stuff.

"It's a bit lonely, but otherwise, it's fine." Konata actually sounded a bit sad and Kagami wasn't expecting an answer like this. _"Why did I say that?!"_ Konata panicked inside her head.

"Well... ehm, I'm free pretty much the entire week. If you want me to, I could stay for a bit." Kagami wasn't sure if she should tease Konata now because the girl in question probably would've done so, but she decided against it because it sounded strangely sincere.

"Kagamin~ is worried about me, huh?" She teased. _"Stay silent, you idiot!"_ Her head was still disagreeing, mainly with herself, that is.

"…Or, you know, I could go home right now." Kagami wasn't so sure about her decision anymore.

"Nonono. I'm sorry, I would love you to stay. Kagamin~ has always been the best company after all." Konata hastily answered.

"It's okay, Konata... I know you long enough to know how to handle you by now." Kagami teased. _"Although I just learned something new…"_ Kagami wasn't aware that Konata actually has a vulnerable side to her.

"That almost sounds like a challenge!" Konata was already in better spirits again.

"Try your best… or worst." Kagami accepted the challenge. _"Is that's why she seemed a bit different lately? Because she didn't want to be alone?"_ Inside her mind, Kagami was still thinking about something else.

"Oh, I think you will regret this provocation." Konata started to smile and immediately tackled her down in a hug.

"Yep, I deserved that... Anyway, what were you doing before I came?" She was strangely unaffected.

"Nothing interesting, but I just wanted to start cooking. You hungry?"

"Me? Sure! Can I help?" Kagami was in a good mood and completely ignored the teasing possibilities in her answer.

"Kagamin~ sure is nice today. Is today 'dere Monday' or what is going on? I can't wait for ' _tsun_ Tuesday' then. Oh, and a ' _moe_ Wednesday' would be really cool, if you ask me."

"You want a challenge, you get a challenge." Kagami teased. "But I'm pretty sure your Wednesday is not going to happen. Besides, I'm not a tsundere in the first place."

"Aww... I was looking forward to Wednesday..." Konata completely ignored her tsundere remark. "Anyway, you in the kitchen… I really don't think that is a good idea."

"Hey, it's not like the kitchen will explode when I just enter it!" She started pouting.

"You sure?" Konata started laughing a bit. "Well, you could prepare the cabbage by washing and cutting. There's at least nothing involved in it that could explode… _I hope._ " She whispered the last part.

"I heard that! Even I can _probably_ handle cabbage!"

"Oh boy." Konata had a bad feeling about the whole thing.

"I heard that as well! Have a little faith in me, will you?"

"I suppose I have no other choice, right?" Konata feared the answer.

"Exactly!" Her motivation was sky high.

10 minutes later.

"See!" Kagami was rather proud of herself.

"Yes… I do… The cabbage is cleaned and sliced. Okay, it's almost confetti, but I think that's partially my own fault because I didn't tell you how small cabbage is supposed to be cut, I guess...?" Konata was already tired over mere salad.

"What are we going to cook in the first place?" She completely ignored the evaluation.

"I was thinking of some fried noodles. I'm not in the mood for something big and complicated. More than ever now…"

"Fine by me." Kagami answered and her stomach loudly agreed with a rumble.

"I better hurry or I'm the one that'll get eaten here."

"That's a good idea." Kagami answered her with a teasing smile.

"Oho, Kagamin~'s comebacks sure are on a high today." She was amazed.

Another 15 minutes passed.

"Wow, even if it's just noodles, it's really good." Kagami was impressed by Konatas cooking skills.

"Like I said, I almost always cook on my own at home. I suppose even you could do at least a little cooking with _'some_ ' training."

"Maybe, but Tsukasa and mom always cook and even banned me from the kitchen…" Kagami sighed as she basically had no chance to train anymore.

"It's not like I can't understand them…"

"But like you said, if I can't train, I won't be able to get better…"

"Well, I cou…" Konata started saying something, but instantly stopped after realizing the big mistake she was about to do. However, Kagami still understood.

"You could what?" Kagami's eyes lit up.

"Nothing! Absolutely nothing! I definitely said nothing at all. I mean, I can't even talk. Words? What are words? Are they delicious?" Konata started panicking as she felt the pressure and tried her best not to cave in. However…

"Konata, please~." Kagami's pleading eyes were suddenly able to rival those of Tsukasa.

"W-Well..." Her voice cracked as she lost. Resisting a determined Kagami was impossible. "Maybe I could show you a thing or two in the kitchen, but I'm just way too scared for my life. Forget it, it's a stupid idea." Konata started shaking and genuinely looked scared.

"Come on, you're totally overreacting." Kagami said, although, she wasn't so sure herself. "I'm sure you won't die or get _seriously_ injured."

"Did you just say ' _seriously_ '?! You did, right?!" Konatas faced turned even whiter.

"No, of course not. Let's start!"

 _"Oh boy, that was a mistake, wasn't it...?"_ Konata sighed. "Wait wait wait. I need some time to prepare the kitchen and myself mentally and physically for this. - _And I need to write my testament. -_ What about we try something tomorrow, or how about in five years?"

"Okay, tomorrow it is."

"Five years isn't an option?"

"Nope!" There was absolutely no room for negotiations.

"It was worth a try..." Konata accepted full defeat. "Okay, but for now let's do something more fun and especially safe. Any ideas?" She tried to change the subject.

"Homework." She plainly answered.

"Kagamin~?"

"Yes?"

"I have a question."

"What is it?"

"Do you hate me? I agreed to risk my life for you and you reward me with even more pain?!" Konata protested with some real tears in the corner of her eyes.

"Konata…" Kagami sighed. "Don't you think you're overreacting a bit?"

"No, absolutely not! If anything, it's the complete opposite thing of overreacting!" She shouted while raising her arms to proof her seriousness on the subject.

"Okay, Konata, how about we do a bit homework and after that, we'll play a game?"

"Okay…" Konata answered, but still wasn't okay with the homework part. She still nodded and the two went to her room.

Kagami finished her homework in about 40 minutes. She already had done a lot at home before coming to Konata because she knew what happens when she's with Konata. Said girl actually had done a bit by now, but she wasn't even remotely to finishing it. Then again, she also had no intention of doing any more on her own and so, she started an attack.

"Oi, don't hug me without any warning!" Kagami yelled after Konata had started to cling to her.

"Wait, if I warn you, it's okay?"

"T-That's not what I meant. It's because I can dodge your attack then." She said while trying to sound as serious as possible, but her slight blushing didn't help with that.

"Ka-ga-min~." Konata's voice sounded almost seductive. "You know, when you blush after an answer like that, it doesn't really prove your point, like, at all." She said so and started hugging her harder, but suddenly stopped again.

"Oi! Huh? What is it now? Wait, where is my homework?!" While she was confused, Konata had grabbed Kagami's homework and started copying it at a speed that normal eyes couldn't even follow. "Hey, give it back!" Kagami finally realized what was going on.

"Kagamin~, please." Konata begged with a little tear in her big, green eyes. Unable to resist that, Kagami just sighed in defeat.

"Okay, Konata, but keep in mind that I'll pay you back tomorrow in the kitchen." Kagami changed her play.

"*gulp* So I still have no way out, right?" Konata already knew the answer.

"Right!" Kagami answered with a passion in her voice Konata never heard before and her face went blank again.

"T-Then here, have your homework back, I don't need it after all."

"Nope." Kagami was having fun and Konata silently finished copying it.

"A-Anyway… let's play a game now." She needed something nice to get back on tracks.

"Okay." She had enough fun and let Konata have a breather.

…

About 1,5 hours later, they had finished their game. Kagami did a good show, but against Konata, she still had no chance at all.

"Seriously, how can I person be that good at playing games?" Kagami was slightly shocked about the skill of her little, blue-haired friend.

"Same with the cooking, constant training." Konata sounded extremely smug.

"I really don't think that this is something you should be that proud of... Still, I'm sure wouldn't be able to practice that much. How much do you play a day? 30 hours?"

"Funny. Hey, how about we ditch the whole cooking practice thing and level up this skill?" Konata still had a tiny bit of hope inside of her.

"Nope."

"Really? I still have no chance to back out of it, huh?" Accepting reality is really hard for her.

"Not even a bit. Besides, now that I look at the time, I think I should head home. It's pretty late already."

"Sleepover" Konata suddenly shouted.

"Konata, no, I didn't ask my parents, nor do I have clothes or stuff for school tomorrow."

"Hmpf." She wasn't satisfied with the refusal.

"Maybe tomorrow." Kagami tried to cheer her up.

"As if I'll survive through tomorrow..." Konata sounded dead serious. Kagami Just giggled in response.

"It won't be _that_ bad. Anyway, see you tomorrow at school." Kagami said, waving while leaving Konata's house. Konata weakly waved back.

"I should start preparing for tomorrow… I don't think I can talk her out of it. She's way too persistent. Hmm, I wonder if we have a fire extinguisher somewhere? Oh, and I should call the insurance company." She shivered a bit and sighed. "I wonder what we should cook... Maybe something with rice? Everybody can cook rice! Curry could be an idea. I maybe find some more ideas while shopping tomorrow. Yeah, let's go with that. For now, let's start the computer and play a game. Or write my testament…" With that said, she started the computer and logged into her favorite online game.

"Oh, sensei is online. That's rare." She hesitated a bit, but quickly busted out in laughter.

 **KonaKona:** Sensei o/ !

 **Nanakon:** Izumi \o !

 **KonaKona:** wanna level up today?

 **Nanakon:** Sure, but do your homework first!

 **KonaKona:** ;;

 **Nanakon:** just hurry, I wanna play!

 **KonaKona:** sensei, I'm already done with it…

 **Nanakon:** sure…

 **KonaKona:** I am. Kagami helped me. And I paid a big price today so please let us play... It's probably my last day on earth anyway.

 **Nanakon:** Hiiragi is sure convenient, huh? :) Wait, what do you mean with last day?

 **KonaKona:** Somehow, I accidentally promised to teach Kagami how to cook and I have absolutely no chance to back out again.

 **Nanakon:** OMG! Did you try hard enough?

 **KonaKona:** Yes, I never tried anything that hard before. *sniffle*

 **Nanakon:** Poor you, can I have your new armor then?

 **KonaKona:** Sensei, please, it's serious!

 **Nanakon:** I know, but you know even better than me that a serious Hiiragi is unstoppable, right?

 **KonaKona:** That's true… I'm already prepared for the worst, but I still think I don't survive tomorrow.

 **Nanakon:** From what I heard, I suppose it's just a logical reaction.

 **KonaKona:** *sniffle* Well, let's have some fun till the sun rises!

 **Nanakon:** Bring it on!

…

On the next day, both Konata and Kuroi-sensei, came dead tired to school.

…

The same evening at the Hiiragi home.

"I'm home." Kagami said while entering the door.

"Welcome back, Kagami." Miki, Kagami's mother, greeted her from inside the living room.

"Where are the others?"

"Your dad has to work longer today, as usual, Tsukasa is in her room, Matsuri and Inori are still out."

"I see. Mom, can I stay over at Konata's place tomorrow for a couple days?"

"Why?"

"Konata's dad is on a business trip and I wanted to keep her a bit company so that she doesn't do stupid things or at least, not more than usual."

"You two sure are good friends, huh? If you can promise me to go to school on your own and do your homework diligently, I suppose it's okay."

"Don't worry about me. You should better keep an eye on Tsukasa then because she never wakes up in the morning without my help." Kagami was a bit worried about her sister.

"I can manage her, no problem. Do you two have already something planned to do when you there?"

"Actually, yes, Konata promised me to teach me some cooking skills."

"That's nice… Whaat?! So you two aren't that good friends after all, huh?" Miki teased Kagami, but she sounded rather serious.

"Moooom!" She pouted. "That's not nice at all."

"But remember last time? We almost needed a new…"

"Mom!"

"Okay okay honey, but please don't overdo it again, alright?" She looked extremely worried.

"Okay, thanks, mom." Kagami hugged her mother and went to her room.

"Poor Konata, I don't think she knows what she's up to…" Miki felt sorry for her.

…..

The next day at school. The girls had gathered for lunch again.

"Kagamin~!" Konata waved as she saw her entering the classroom.

"Hey, Konata. Hello Miyuki, Tsukasa."

"Hey, onee-chan." Tsukasa also waved her hand.

"Hello, Kagami-san"

"Konata, already decided what we're going to cook today?"

"Straight to business, huh?" Konata normally liked straightforwardness, but somehow, she doesn't anymore.

"O-Onee-chan… w-what do you mean by ' _we_ '?" Tsukasa suddenly looked terrified.

"Because her father isn't home, I decided to visit Konata and she promised me to teach me some cooking."

"K-Kona-chan... is that true?" Tsukasa actually started shaking.

"Yes..." She sighed. "I tried really hard to talk her out of it afterward, but you know her, right?"

"I do, but onee-chan, you know that you and the kitchen don't work together!"

"Not you too, Tsukasa… Mom already said the same yesterday!" Kagami pouted.

"Oh boy…" Konata mumbled.

"But don't you remember the last time you tried to cook rice. It took us 4 hours to clean the kitchen not to mention the…"

"Tsukasa!" Kagami's face became really red.

"No, what happened? I have a right to know. It's my kitchen after all!" Konata also started panicking.

"Nothing. Happened. At. All!" Kagami insisted on it.

"Poor Kona-chan." That was all that Tsukasa could say.

"*gulp*" Konata had a really bad feeling about it, to begin with, and it just got worse.

"Anyway… Ignoring that, Konata do you have already prepared something?" Kagami skillfully dodged the interrogation.

"Actually, yes, I prepared a lot already. I found a fire extinguisher, I called the insurance company, I padded all sharp corners in my kitchen, I hid most of the breakable stuff and I even started my testament." She listed the things she did yesterday and Kagami was shocked, however, Tsukasa gave Konata a little reaffirming nod.

"K-Konata! You aren't serious, are you?"

"Well, I didn't write a testament yet, but else, yes, and Tsukasa's expression proves me right, I think."

"If you keep doing that, I'll seriously reconsider coming over today!"

"Oh, ' _tsun_ Tuesday' is starting, huh?"

"Konata!"

"Okay okay, I'm sorry."

"What I wanted to ask is if you already prepared something to cook?" Kagami came back to her initial question.

"I planned something with rice, but after Tsukasa's story… I'm not entirely sure anymore…" Konata sighed. "I wanted to go shopping after school and decide then."

"It wasn't that bad..." Kagami said so, but Tsukasa vehemently shook her head and Konata sighed. "Can I come with you?"

"Sure, but don't you have to go home first?"

"Not really, no. Oh, by the way, I asked my mother yesterday about staying over. She's fine with it. I can stay over today, even for the rest of the week if I want." Kagami explained to her ad Konata started smiling after hearing it.

"Really? That's great, Kagamin~! Maybe it's going to be a fun week after all now!" Konata cheered up.

"I hope so..." Even though Kagami was happy for the cooking lessons, it still sounds exhausting.

"I'm sure you won't regret it." Konata wasn't even sure if she isn't going to regret it either, but she was in a somewhat good mood after hearing the good news. "If I survive, that is…"

"You know. Konata, every time you say that I won't regret it, I already regret it pretty hard."

"Exactly how I feel about the cooking thing right now, Kagamin~." Konata teased, but Kagami couldn't find a comeback and just stayed silent.

"Ehm, Tsukasa-san?" Miyuki finally said something after being quite confused for some time.

"Yes, Yuki-chan?"

"What are the two talking about? I somehow couldn't follow their conversation."

"In short? Konata's dad isn't home and onee-chan decided to stay some days at Kona-chan's place..."

"Without her dad around, I may be able to teach Konata some useful things." Kagami added.

"Why did I end up teaching you how to cook, then?" Konata desperately asked.

"I see. Sounds like fun." Miyuki answered. _"These two sure are an odd couple, huh?"_ She thought and Tsukasa sighed.

"What's wrong, sis?"

"Nothing, I only thought that I maybe get a little lonely without you at home…"

"You can come over to my place if you want, Tsukasa-san." Miyuki offered.

"Are you sure?" Tsukasa instantly turned happy again.

"Of course, we two aren't doing much alone anyway and so this maybe is a good point to start."

"Thanks, Yuki-chan, I would love to come over."

"Problem solved before it even started!" Konata wrapped it up and the other three girls giggled.

"Tsukasa, is there something I can cook with Kagamin~, that is most likely to succeed. I need some inspiration for shopping…" Konata addressed _her_ problem again and Tsukasa started thinking but stopped really fast again.

"To be honest, no." Tsukasa felt a bit guilty, but It's the only answer she could give. "There is basically nothing I…"

"YOU TWO! Stop it, NOW!" Kagami got rather annoyed.

"I'm sorry!" Tsukasa and Konata apologized together.

Lunch break ended and Kagami had to return to her class. Konata slumped down on her seat and slept through the rest of her classes in order to get some sleep from last night back.

* * *

.

Poor Konata...

Next chapter next week (or the week after, but I guarantee for nothing). Find out if Konata, her kitchen, or even both are going to survive the week… Or at least a day.


	5. Kitchen destroyer

Konata and Kagami arrived at the supermarket near her house sometime after school ended.

"So Konata… do you know what are we are going to cook now?"

"I was thinking of something simple because… well, I'm still scared." Konata answered. "How does rice with curry sounds? It's more or less the simplest dish I can think of."

"Yeah that sounds rather easy. You're sure we shouldn't try something harder?" Kagami wasn't liking the treatment she got from Konata.

"Kagamin~, Tsukasa almost fainted after we told her about the cooking lessons and you did something with rice you had to clean the kitchen for hours... So no, I think I'm overdoing it already."

"Okay, fine…" She pouted but stopped resisting. "What do we need for it?"

"I have rice at home. We need some meat, a curry mix, potatoes, carrots, and onions. Maybe something for desert but well I don't know if I even survive until then so just let us buy some instant pudding or so..."

"Sounds fine, I mean ignoring the last part. What meat and what curry mix?" Kagami tried her best to stay calm.

"Beef or chicken, whatever you prefer and the best curry would be a spicy mix because it can cover possible or rather unpreventable flaws quite good."

The girls bought everything they need and went home afterward.

…..

"We should change our clothes first. I have a bad feeling that they'll get dirty today." The clothes weren't the only thing Konata had a bad feeling about.

"I would love to hit you right now but I can't because you're probably right..." Kagami mumbled more or less to herself.

"I still don't want to do it..." Konata started whining again.

"With what do we start?" Kagami just ignored her as usual.

"The curry, the meat needs the longest time."

"Okay, so we have to cook it first, right?"

"Nah, we first cut it into smaller pieces and so with the with the carrots and potatoes and then chop the onions."

"Oh, yeah, makes sense." Kagami nodded.

"I would say I take care of the meat and the onions and you start with peeling the carrots and potatoes."

"Okay."

"Ehm… Kagamin~?" Konata asked a couple minutes later after observing her a bit.

"Yes?"

"You know… two small carrots are more than enough for two people. You're at what you sixth?"

"…number five. How am I supposed to know how much we need?"

"Uhm…" Konata scratched her head. "Common sense?"

"You didn't just give me a lecture about common sense, right? You..." Kagami hissed but quickly apologized after recognizing that Konata had indeed a point.

"Okay, looks like we can use three or four carrots in this case here. Kagamin~, it's enough to peel the outer layer of the carrot, not... well... half of it.

"Okay, what after that?" Kagami decided to just listen and took the advice.

"You cut them into smaller pieces and do the exact same thing with the potatoes. Take two big ones, peel the skin and cut them into smaller, bite size, pieces. I'll start cooking the meat in this pot with some onions. When you're finished and the meat is a bit browned, we add the potatoes, carrots, and water and let it simmer until everything softened a bit."

"…Okay, can I add them now." Kagami asked after she finished cutting the potatoes.

"Sure, the meat is ready…" Konata looked at them and sighed. "Uhm Kagamin~, you didn't have to hack the potatoes this much, that's not really bite sized. Anyway, whatever… it should be okay. I already added the water. You can add your stuff."

"Okay."

Kagami added her vegetables and the two let everything simmer for 5 minutes.

"I think we can add the curry roux mix now." Konata said after looking at the cooking ingredients.

"Sure." Kagami answered while throwing the entire content of the curry mix in the pot.

"But only two or three of the eight roux blocks inside the package, that's already more than enough." Konata added after realizing she forgot to add it in the first place.

"Oh!" Kagami gasped and turned a bit pale.

"K-Kagamin~?" She had a bad feeling before even looking.

"That advice was a bit late..." Kagami muttered.

"Uhm good... please cut the remaining carrots, we're going to make some more curry, like family sized. I'll cut some more potatoes and we also can add some tofu because we have no meat left. With this, we probably have enough to compensate the extra curry mix." Konata said while also quickly adding twice the amount of needed water.

"Okay... Konata, I'm sorry." Kagami was a bit dejected.

"It's fine. The situation has some moe points on its own but you were supposed to be moe on Wednesday tomorrow and not today."

"Oi! It's not like I doing it on purpose, you know? And don't call me moe out of nowhere!"

"Ah there's the tsun, it's Tuesday after all." Konata teased, mainly to distract Kagami.

"Grr..." It more or less worked. "Anyway, how do we continue with the curry now?"

"Put your carrots in the pot, I already added some more potatoes. With that and the tofu I'll add later, we'll have enough curry for the next three days or so." Konata sighed.

"Sounds good, wait, we could bring some for tomorrow's lunch then, right?"

"Well, I had a small incident with overnight curry before but if we put it in the fridge fast enough, we could do that. As long as it is edible in the first place, I have to add." Konata glanced at the pot with the now army sized curry.

"I'm sure it'll be good!" Kagami reassured mostly herself. "What now?"

"We wait because the curry needs to cook an hour."

"That long? Wow, cooking is torture."

"That's true, with you it's a lot harder, yes" Konata silently mumbled.

"What was that?"

"Nothing! Besides, the longer it cooks the better it tastes in the end. We could start with the rice now because it also takes some time."

"I... uhm... okay." Kagami suddenly turned as pale as a ghost.

"What's wrong? Flashback to your mysterious rice accident at home nobody wants to tell me about?" Konata was now also concerned.

"No no, absolutely not. Nothing like that." She quickly shook her head.

"… Okay…" The bad feeling Konata had all this time got stronger again but she decided to play dumb for now. "Anyway, can you wash the rice? I'll look for a pot to cook it in."

"O-Okay." Kagamis behavior made Konata feel just more and more uneasy.

A couple minutes later. Kagami had washed the rice and added it the pot Konata had brought. She also added the water and then placed it on the stove where Konata was looking after the curry because she couldn't imagine Kagami could mess up washing rice.

"Wow that actually looks similar to curry." Konata said amazed at the inside of the pot.

"See, I'm a natural." Kagami teased after she placed the pot of rice next to it,

"Uhm…"

"Just shut up!"

A couple minutes elapsed and the rice started behaving rather weird.

"Ahh Kagamin~!" Konata suddenly yelled. "W-Why is the rice pot smoking?!" She quickly removed it from the stove then.

"I-I have now idea." Kagami also panicked a bit.

"I didn't know it's physically possible for rice to smoke. Sure steam and stuff but no dark smoke… Wait, why is the complete pot full of rice? How many did you add?"

"Uhm everything?" Kagami quietly answered.

"What?! You mean you added the complete bag?

"Yeah, sort of…"

"WHY?" Konata started yelling because she was getting desperate.

"You said we made way too much curry and so I thought more rice would be good…" Kagami answered with the innocence of an idiot, at least when it comes to cooking.

"Wow." Konata said after examining the pot and calming a bit down. "I bet just a minute more and that whole thing would've just exploded and go through the roof." Konata tried to make a joke.

"Well…" Kagami started. "That's what more or less happened last time."

"Wait, what? That was supposed to be a joke. I... mean... wha... how, I... uhm..." Konata was to perplexed to speak.

"I'm sorry Konata. *sniffle* I'm really not doing it on purpose *sniffle*." Kagami started crying.

"Don't worry, Kagamin~, I'm not mad, just amazed. More importantly, nothing happened. We can clean the pod and the top half of the rice is, well, still like new. It never had contact with any water, so we can still eat it. Next time we'll just start from the beginning with some more basic things like measuring and stuff." Konata tried to cheer her up. "Now stop crying and get up. That's way too cute for me than I can handle. I almost had a nosebleed over here."

"Really?" Kagami stopped crying and faced Konata.

"Absolutely, a clumsy tsundere who can't even cook rice or measure stuff and starts crying in the cutest way I ever saw, even Miyuki and Tsukasa together aren't that moe. I'm about to faint, if you keep that up or even top it on moe Wednesday, I'm dying for sure!" Konata was in high spirits and Kagami was thanks to her calm again.

"Idiot…" Kagamin laughed. "I already told you that I'm not participating on 'moe Wednesday'! I didn't mean that. Are you really going to teach me more?" Kagami asked.

"I have to. I can't release you into society with skills like that." Konata laughed, so did Kagami. "And besides, you weren't cute on purpose today, so you can't be sure that moe Wednesday isn't going to happen."

"That's somehow true... Wait, shut up Konata!" Both were laughing again. "And thank you for."

"Oh boy, I'm not going to survive this week." Konata teased.

"Shut up already. Don't say stuff like that, besides wasn't your dream 'death by moe'." Kagami was also teasing again.

"No, well not really, it's certainly a good death but that was the dream of my dad."

"Oh yeah, right, I remember." Kagami awkwardly scratched her head. "So, what's your favorite death?"

"Me? I don't plan to die at all!"

"Is that so? How do you want to accomplish that?"

"Easy, I'll wait until I turn 30 and become a wizard and boom, immortal!" Konata cheered while posing a victory stance. Kagami laughed a bit.

"Good luck with that. Wait, don't you have to stay a vir…" Kagami suddenly stopped after realizing what she said. Konata just started laughing really hard.

"Just perfect… You really understood that reference! I Can't believe it. I knew you like that stuff as much as I do!"

"N-No- No, it's nothing like that!" Kagami started blushing. "You just forced me to watch the anime, idiot!" Kagami started yelling to desperately defend herself.

"Kagamiiiin~." Konata had a mischievous grin.

"What is it?" Kagami snapped.

"Even I haven't seen the anime yet."

"What? Of course you did. I'm sure of it, stop teasing me or I'll go home you stupid otaku!"

"Kagamin~, I know I didn't. I wanted to finish the last two manga volumes first before watching. I know the reference from the manga, not the anime." Konata said while Kagami started blushing even manga.

"Shut up, idiot. Then I just happen to see it while switching channels or something."

"Kagamin~, you don't have to deny it that hard, I'm just proud." Konata cheered. "But yeah, you're right, it's a pretty hard wish especially because you originally have to be a boy who isn't allowed to have a girlfriend until he turns 30. I may have the mind of a boy but uhm… yeah…" Konata stopped because she lost where she was going with it.

 _"_ _Wait, what?"_ Kagami thought. "Ehm, I lost it a bit in the middle but good look with that… I think." Kagami was equally confused.

"Me too but yeah, thanks, I guess." Konata scratched her head. "You have to think big and there's still plan B. Death by Tsundere rage. I'm pretty sure this is doable."

"Yeah that´s a more likely death for you." Kagami started thinking while Konata was smiling. "Shut up, idiot. I really want to hit you know but I'm not going to kill you, probably… Wait, shut up again, I'm not a tsundere. Ahhh I hate you! I can hit you, right? Right?" Kagami was fighting really hard. Konata just wasn't sure against what she was fighting again her or herself.

"Kagamin~, I didn't say a single thing until now. You were just ta..." Konata got interrupted.

"Konata, just stay silent, okay." Kagami said, still not being sure herself if she should laugh or not now.

"Okay~. By the way, the rice is done I think we can try to eat now."

"I thought the rice was ruined." Kagami asked.

"Part of it was but while you were talking about virgins and wizards, I washed the remaining rice again and got it ready." Konata teased while Kagami got a new reason to blush.

"K-Konata! I-I said you should shu... oh whatever, you win." Kagami had no power left.

"Ah, tsun Tuesday. I hope this becomes a regular thing." Konata grinned.

"Grr. C-Can we eat now?" Konata couldn't hold it anymore and started laughing again. Kagami tried not to but in the end, she joined Konata. After a couple minutes of their shared idiocy, they calmed down and started to eat.

"Hmm." Konata said after tasting.

"Hmm." Kagami agreed.

"It's better than expected." Konata nodded. "I mean worse than expected isn't possible but still..."

"Oi! Well, you have a point..." Kagami more or less agreed.

"It's definitely edible."

"Thank you, I guess." Kagami scratched her head. "It's my first try after all, okay with helping."

"I can definitely understand your family now, though."

"I heard that!" Kagami shouted.

"Kagamin~, remember the rice? I still can't understand how is that even possible. I-I mean..."

"And once more, shut up. Rice just doesn't like me, that's all."

"That's a totally valid reason. Just like me and homework." Both laughed a bit because both were rather unreasonable.

"Anyway, I think the curry is okay. Okay… maybe the first carrots and potatoes I added are a bit too soft because I cut them too small and it's a bit spicy because I added too much of the mix stuff but still..."

"Yeah, I seriously thought I would die today so I'm also a bit surprised here."

"Don't overdo it now, Konata." Kagami threatened her.

"I'm not overdoing it. I was scared! In fact, I'm still a bit. Good thing we're done now I'm super tired right now."

"You don't need to be scared, I think…" Konatas eyes widened. "Yeah good thing we're done, so I can end today's lesson with an at least small success."

"That's good…" Konata sighed. "I think we should clean the kitchen now, put the curry in the fridge and then take a bath."

"Sounds like a plan. Wait, why are we putting the curry in the fridge?"

"So that it doesn't spoil. You already forgot? It was even your idea… We can bring something to school for lunch and show it to Tsukasa of course."

"Oh, right… What? You want show Tsukasa my creation?" Kagami shivered.

"Sure! Why not?"

"Because it's embarrassing."

"I bet that is the first edible thing you have ever created, right?"

"Sort of…" Kagami got silent again.

"I'm sure Tsukasa won't laugh too hard or anything."

"Oi."

"Sorry!"

…..

Later that day in Konatas room. Both were sitting on Kagamis futon.

"Look Kagamin~, your anime is running right now?" Konata suddenly said.

"What? Kagami turned towards the TV.

"Your anime with the wizard reference, the anime you 'accidentally' watched." Konata chuckled.

"Ah, you're right it is. I remember this guy…" Kagami stopped. "… almost not at all."

"Kagamin~…" Konata started while grabbing a manga. "Look this is the scene with the wizard…" She turned a few pages. "And this is the normal character design. You have to have watched more to recognize the character in an instant."

"…"

"Kagamin~."

"Fine!" Kagami groaned in defeat. "Maybe I watched a couple episodes."

"Was it that hard to admit?"

"Geez, you don't believe how annoying you can be!"

"Nah, I have a pretty good impression of that." Konata just grinned at her

"Wow, I... you... wow. I can't believe you." Kagami stuttered.

"Yeah, I know I'm awesome, so do you."

"Awesome, I don't think I had this word in my head." Kagami teased back.

They continued watching TV and chatting for some time until they got tired.

"I guess we should go sleeping. I'm pretty tired." Kagami yawned just after finishing her sentence.

"Yeah, you're right, your cooking did cost me quite a lot energy and I'm going to need more for tomorrow."

"You're pretty mean sometimes, you know?" She pouted.

"Like the tsundere can talk, besides, the truth can hurt sometimes."

"Shut up! Let's go to bed now"

"See!? By the way, I'm going to sleep in my own bed, you're way too clingy while you're sleeping Kagamin~." Konata nudged Kagamis side.

"More than fine with me... Wait what?" Kagami suddenly asked.

"Remember last time?"

"Hmm… Oh yeah… I mean, shut up, that wasn't on purpose." Kagami shouted and Konata giggled.

"Sure."

With that, they went to bed and fell asleep quickly because both were exhausted. Thanks to the events of the day, Konata had a little nightmare.

"…Kagamin~ don't touch that pot… no that doesn't belong in curry… Kagamin~ how can that happen to rice… what are you doing… no you don't cut it like that…"

Her mumbling continued for quite some time. She later even started moving in her bed as if to run away from something, to the point where she fell out of it. However, due to their exhaustion neither Konata woke up nor Kagami realized anything at this point.

* * *

.

BTW I don't guarantee success with any recipes I'm using, especially in the upcoming chapters. I'm pretty sure I mixed up some steps or even forget some.

For those who are wondering, the anime with the reference is Haganai/ Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai.

Poor Konata... She never saw it coming and it's just the beginning of her odyssey in the kitchen with Kagami.

But maybe she'll get her moe Wednesday to cheer up again as a reward for her hard work.


	6. Moe Wednesday

Today in hell's kitchen…. No wait, Konatas kitchen…

* * *

The morning after the first bravely fought battle in the kitchen. Konata was the first one who woke up.

"Again?" Konata wondered as she realized something. "How?"

"…Thank you for teaching me, Konata…" Kagami suddenly mumbled in her sleep.

"Wow... Looks like I'm getting my moe Wednesday after all. That was pretty sweet already but I still hope she'll wake up soon. Sure, it's warm and kind of nice but I bet it's more fun if she wakes up." Konata giggled.

"K-Konata?!" Kagami finally woke up. "What are you doing?"

"Uhm, that's my line… I mean I went to sleep in my bed and wake up on the floor with you hugging me… again."

"What? I'm not hugging you!" Kagami looked at her surroundings. "Why am I hugging you?" Konata was right, just like last time they ended up together while Kagami was using Konata as a substitute hug pillow.

"How am I supposed to know that? I mean, I know some manga with similar content but…"

"Stop right there!" Kagami didn't want to hear said 'content'.

"Okay… By the way, Kagamin~, you talk while you sleep." Konata moved to her daily teasing while being completely unaware that she did the same.

"No, I'm not." Kagami groaned.

"I heard you, so yes, you do!"

"No, I… wait, what did I say?" She suddenly got a bit scarred.

"You thanked me for helping you to cook, while you were hugging me. Pretty moe if you ask me."

"I-I don't…" Kagami started blushing and stopped for a couple seconds to think. "No, you're not getting your special Wednesday!"

"But until now it really looks like it." Konata was really eager to get her day.

"Shut up and tell me why you are on my futon."

"I don't know. Well… my bed looks like I fell out of it or something because it's rather messy and the blanked more or less with me down here but the rest has to be you because when I woke up, I couldn't even move so hard were you hug…" Konata was interrupted, forcefully and to be exact it was Kagamis first who interrupted.

"Oi!" She calmed down a bit. "I'm sure I didn't hug you... on purpose... I think. No, I didn't. I bet I just had a bad dream and it happened in an accident or something, yes that's it." She was in denial but not even convincing herself with the argumentation.

"I for one bet you like hugging just as much as I do, you just can't show it and so you do it in your sleep." Konata said with a huge smile. "Ouch." Konata was now rubbing her new bump on her head as Kagamis fist skillfully found her target again.

"No, that definitely isn't it." Kagami concluded but her slight blushing said otherwise. "We should start getting ready for school."

"Great." Konata actually sounded… serious.

"What?! You want to go to school?" Kagami was completely surprised.

"Sure, I'm still sleepy because of you and Kuroi-sensei's class is a great place for sleeping."

"Yeah, exactly what I was expecting..."

"You can go to the bath first. I'll go and check if the curry is still… well… curry." Konata recalled her past trauma with spoiled overnight curry again.

"That's not nice... but yeah, better do that."

Kagami went to the bathroom and Konata went to the kitchen to check the curry creation.

"Hmm…" She intensely stared at the creation in the kitchen. "Still looks fine to me and it tastes… whew, spicy.. but edible."

"Ouch!" Konata suddenly heard Kagami screaming from upstairs.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"Nothing, I just thought the door was open but it wasn't, so I hit my head."

"Moe." Konata simply shouted.

"Shut up." She yelled while coming downstairs. "So uhm… is the curry still curry?"

"Yeah, it's quite spicy by now but it's still good. Can you put it together with some rice in these two boxes over there? I'll go to the bathroom in the meanwhile."

"Sure, go ahead."

"But don't touch the rice any more than need and don't even think on doing something with it else than putting in the box!"

"GO already!" Kagami basically shoved her out of the bathroom. 'But she has a point…' was what she was absolutely not thinking.

Konata went to the bathroom and Kagami prepared the lunch while carefully obeying Konatas 'advice'. They left shortly after for school but while exiting the house, Kagami almost stumbled over the step in the hallway.

"Come on Kagamin~, you're doing it on purpose now."

"As if I would do something like that on purpose." Kagami groaned.

"Hmm, a clumsy tsundere, huh? I don't think my moe meter can handle something as awesome as that." Konata teased.

"Shut up, will you? I'm neither a tsundere nor moe!"

The rest of the school way was more or less without any incidents. Tsukasa was late and so the three didn't meet in the train as usual. After arriving in class, Konata immediately fell asleep.

"Izumi. Izumi! IZUMI! Wake up!" Kuroi-sensei desperately tried to wake her up.

"Sensei… Please be a bit lenient, I had a hard day yesterday." Konata mumbled half asleep.

"Yeah, you told me. I didn't expect you to be here at all. How did it go?"

"I have absolutely no idea how I survived that. I mean I-I…" She almost went into shock.

"It's okay, you don't have to force yourself but please stay at least awake." Kuroi-sensei walked away and Tsukasa dryly laughed a bit after hearing the conversation. Konata sighed, ignored the teacher and went back to sleep.

…..

Lunch break

"Tsukasa!" Konata caught up on some sleep and had energy again and was angry as yelled and caused Tsukasa to twitch nervously while the three, including Miyuki, were sitting around the table in class. Kagami was still in her own class.

"What is it, Kona-chan?" Tsukasa had a pretty good idea what's wrong.

"Why didn't you tell about the rice thing?"

"O-Oh…" A bit of color left her face. "So you two made rice, huh?"

"We tried... and almost died!"

"Good thing you have a good reaction, Kona-chan." Tsukasa answered as if she already knew exactly what happened.

"What happened?" Miyuki asked, trying to get into the conversation.

"Rice just doesn't like me, that's all." Kagami answered while sitting down. She just entered and heard a bit of the conversation.

"That's all? The pot was smoking! I think I even saw a flame or two." Konata shouted.

"You're overreacting." Kagami stayed as calm as possible.

"I'm not! Miyuki, how is it even possible for rice to smoke and burst into flames?"

"I'm afraid but I can't answerer that. I can't think of a physical way to make this possible." Miyuki answered. She was a bit sad because she couldn't give an answerer.

"See! Even Miyuki doesn't know an answerer for this."

"Shut up, Konata!" Staying calm is never an easy task with Konata around

"Aww great, now we are ignoring it." Konata started pouting.

"But onee-chan, isn't that exactly the same that happened at home last time. I mean there's still a mark from the pot on the ceiling." Tsukasa nervously added.

"T-Tsukasa! Don't tell her that."

"Don't you think I have the right to hear that if I'm offering my kitchen?" Konata had a bad feeling about her kitchen again.

"Well, you have a point but it's still embarrassing."

"And moe, I don't even know many mangas with something like that."

"Great, so I'm worse than manga or what?" Kagami was feeling bad enough already.

"No, better!"

"Wow, hearing that from you sounds like a huge compliment."

"Uhm yeah… I don't think I'm ever able to top this compliment…" Konata said while scratching her head.

"Thank you, I guess?" Kagami wasn't sure how to take this compliment and just got a bit flustered. Miyuki and Tsukasa only got more and more confused about the two.

 _"_ _They sure are good friends."_ Both thought afterwards.

"Aww… a blushing, flustered and moe tsundere. Today really is something special." Konata teased and Kagami snapped back to reality.

"Shut up."

"Anyway… Tsukasa?" Konata still had a bone to pick with her.

"Y-Yes, Kona-chan?" She instantly got nervous.

"Kagamin~ and I made curry yesterday and you are going to test it because we brought some for lunch." Konata said in a devious tone. Tsukasa began to sweat.

"D-Do I have to? I really don't want to. Last time I ate something cooked by her I, was sick for almost a week." Tsukasa was really defensive.

"Sis, you realize I'm sitting next to you, right?" Kagami stared coldly at her.

"Yeah, even I think that was pretty hard and you know me." Konata added.

"Like you're one to talk Konata." Kagami hissed and Konata giggled.

"I-I'm s-sorry o-onee-chan, I'm just scarred." She tried her best not to tear up.

"It's okay, Tsukasa." Kagami tried to calm her down.

"Yeah, it's okay." Konata reassured. "I can't really say I'm much better though…"

"Neither can I." Kagami hissed. She wasn't agreeing with them but rather insulting Konata on not being better.

"Shh Kagamin~, tsun Tuesday was yesterday. Anyway, what I wanted to say was I tried it to and it was okay." Konata managed to persuade Tsukasa.

"Wow, really?" She started. "Konata, you really cooked something together with oneechan and it worked? How did you manage that?" Tsukasa was amazed and shocked at the same time.

"You're overreacting now, sis." Kagami pouted.

"Well, it was pretty hard. It was a complex mix of luck, teasing, praying, luck, support, luck, helping, moe and of course luck." Konata grinned.

"Hmm, I think you're the only one who can teach onee-chan then, Kona-chan." Tsukasa started smiling.

"Oi! Your 'moe' thing had nothing to do with it and repeating the luck part wasn't necessary at all. I won't even start with the teasing part." Kagami had to 'correct' various parts in Konatas explanation.

"Kagamin~, without the teasing, I would've had lost interest in the middle and your moe breakdown after the uh… I call it 'rice incident' really motivated me." Konata explained with an honest smile.

"I... uhm... shut up!" Kagami said, but she couldn't hide her blush nor the smile.

"So, Tsukasa, try a bite." Konata said while opening her lunch box. Tsukasa gulped again.

"Hey, that really looks like curry." Tsukasa realized and reluctantly tried a bite. "That's spicy… but... but it's good, definitely edible."

"See, I'm not useless when it comes to cooking." Kagami was satisfied with her work. Tsukasa and Konata jiggled a bit.

"Just dangerous." Konata couldn't help it.

"Thanks' Kona-chan, you made more progress with her in one day than our family since... well she first entered the kitchen."

"That's not funny Tsukasa." Kagami protested.

"Don't worry Tsukasa, when you get her back, she'll know enough to be at least a bit helpful in the kitchen. Or rather, _if_ you get her back." Konata smirked at Kagami. "Maybe I'll keep her."

"Oi! Shut up. Let's eat already."

They started eating. Kagamis clumsiness today however wasn't over yet. She accidentally dropped a bit of her food on her skirt.

"Damn."

"Kagamin~, you're trying way too hard to be moe today..." Konata sighed but smiled at the sama time.

"Sure, I'm ruining my skirt on purpose just to make you happy." Kagami was as sarcastic as she could be.

"That's my Kagamin~." Konata happily played along with it.

Kagami cleaned her skirt and they finished eating just before the lunch break was over. Miyuki didn't add anything to the conversations because she was completely spaced out while trying to find an answer to the rice story and how it's physically possible.

…..

After school. Konata and Kagami were again at the convenience store.

"So?" Kagami asked.

"So what?" Konata turned her head.

"What are we doing here?"

"Oh, you don't want to cook today? Great let's go home." Konata optimistically declared, turned around and walked towards the exit.

"Stop! Of course I want. So what do we need to buy?"

"I think we focus on the miso soup today. Plus, some snacks for later when… ehm… if the instant pudding fails. And we still have some curry, although I'm not very interested in it anymore…"

"Yeah... it's sad to waste it but I've had enough curry. By the way, I heard that 'when' earlier." Kagami said while Konata was jiggling.

"I think we'll try to make a miso soup with some more ingredients inside and we simply forget the curry."

"Sounds good to me."

"We then need mushrooms, tofu, seaweed and leek. I still have kelp and miso paste at home."

"Sounds difficult." Kagami wasn't not feeling so enthusiastic anymore.

"It's rather easy. There's just one or two things where you have to be careful with measuring and that is exactly what we want to get in your little head."

"That doesn't sound very nice." Kagami pouted.

"It's almost exactly the same wording when you try to get some homework into me, Kagamin~." Konata pouted back.

"I… uhm… Shut, up that's not the same!"

"Why?" Konata asked with her (not so) innocently puppy eyes.

"Because homework is important and…" Kagami suddenly realized something.

"…and?" Konata teased. "...making food isn't?"

"Yeah yeah, you win this round. Still, homework is important, too!" Kagami tried to make at least a little point. However, Konata ignored the last part und just giggled.

"I say I get the stuff for the soup and you the snacks and we met at the checkout, okay?"

The girls found everything they looked for and went to Konatas place. After entering, Kagamin stumbled again over the step and landed in Konatas arms who had just turned around after hearing a sound.

"Oh Kagamin~, if you want to hug me that badly just ask." Konata teased before putting her shopping bag on the floor and returning the hug with her own arms.

"I-Idiot. I just stumbled, nothing more!"

"That's pretty moe. Just stumbling and hugging the person in front of you. You sure it was just an accident?"

"I'm sure." Kagami answered but her slight blush showed another story. _'Maybe I should teach her a lesson.'_ She was thinking before strengthen the hug. For the first time in her live, she saw Konata blushing, albeit only a little bit. She decided to like it getting her flustered.

"Kagamin~? I thought you were joking?" Konata was extremely puzzled by the action of her.

"Oh, so you don't want to hug me? That's disappointing..." Kagami tried to muster the most depressed tone she could make in the situation.

"K-Kagamin~, I… we should start cooking now, right?" Konata was completely stupefied and confused by now.

"Fine!" Kagami pouted. "Whatever you want." She added. _'A blushing and speechless Konata, huh? That was… more fun than expected.'_

…

The two went to the kitchen and emptied their shopping bags.

"Kagamin~? What was that just now?" Konata still hadn't fully recovered.

"Well…" Kagami sounded pretty satisfied. "You wanted moe, so I gave you something. By the way, the stumbling really was accidentally."

"I… ehm, wow. It was moe and dere and I didn't saw that coming, especially from you Kagamin~!" Konata happily said. "I think you need a reward for that." She was finally back to normal now.

"No thanks, a blushing and speechless Konata was more than enough as a reward." Kagami teased, Konata however, was speechless again and just stared at Kagami with her mouth open.

"OiOiOi! K-Kagamin~, d-don't swap our roles here." Konata stood in completely disbelieve and a bit frightened in front of Kagami. Kagami started laughing pretty loud.

"Fine! Whatever. Can we start cooking now?" Kagami answered in an aggressive tone. ' _That's somehow fun. I think that's not over for today.'_

"Better, much better!" Konata was incredibly grateful for the tsundere comeback. ' _That was scary. Not that bad but extremely scary…'_

"Let's start already. What's first." She was getting impatient.

"The broth probably. You can get some of the kelp and put it into a bowl to let it soak in water for some time. I'll boil some water in this pot in the meanwhile.

…..

10 minutes later

"Can I add it now?" Kagami was in full spirits.

"Sure" Konata answered. "You can also add a small handful of the dried bonito flakes.

"Okay."

"Wait!" Konata shouted. "A small hand as in my hand slightly filled and not your hand completely filled to the brim!"

"Oh, sorry. Wait, my hand isn't fat!"

"I never said that. Mine is just obviously smaller and you grabbed way too much."

"Not the only thing you´re smaller." She muttered.

"Ey! No need for insults here!"

"I'm sorry." Both were smiling so it wasn't that bad.

"So the broth needs to boil for about 10 minutes. You can start soaking the dried seaweed and I'll start cutting the tofu into smaller pieces."

"Okay, wait how much of this stuff do I need to soak."

"Just as much as you think is fine." Konata was smiling for a special reason.

"Uhm… okay." Kagami instantly threw the entire package without thinking into the bowl of water and Konata chuckled a bit.

"You can also cut the bigger shiitake mushrooms so that they are easier to eat later." Konata added.

…..

A couple minutes later.

"Konata!" Kagami suddenly shouted. "Why is there so much of the seaweed?" The bowl was completely filled with it and it was still growing.

"Kagamin~, it was dried. Dried stuff always easily double or triple in its size. In the case of seaweed, it's easily five to six times."

"And why didn't you tell me that." Kagami was frustrated.

"Because..." Konata started. "...you need to learn this stuff and the best way is trial and error and when you soaked the kelp earlier you saw it growing, too. Sure, it's not the same stuff but similar. You need to learn to watch the stuff you're working with." Konata explained, trying to sound like a teacher as good as possible.

"Wow, getting a lecture from Konata… and it's a good one. I'm impressed. I'll try to pay more attention from now on." Kagami was seriously impressed by Konata. "Now we add this stuff to the broth?"

"Almost, we first get rid of the bonito flakes inside the broth, they're just for the aroma."

"How does plain dashi taste anyway?" Kagami asked before putting her finger into the broth to taste it. It was hot. "Ouch!" Kagami screamed before putting her finger in her mouth to start sucking it to sooth the pain. She also had a small tear in her eye.

"K-Kagamin~ are you okay?"

"Yeaahh, I'mm ffine." Kagami answered, the finger in her mouth muffled the words a bit.

"Put your finger quick under cold water. It will help."

"Thanks Konata."

"Kagamin~?"

"Yes?"

"That wasn't even standard moe anymore. That was advanced moe!" Konata cheered in the most stupid possible way.

"Thanks, but I didn't think the water would be this hot…"

"Well, it's more or less boiling water… Wait, that was on purpose?"

"No, of course not, idiot!"

"B-But you just said…" Konata wasn't sure what to believe anymore.

"Wow, I never thought it would be this fun to mess with you." Kagami smiled and Konata was shocked.

"But I… you... what?"

"Exactly." Kagami smirked.

"I've created a monster!" Konata shouted while falling on her knees to add extra drama. "Wait, but then it wasn't moe, for moe it has to happen unintentional. However, you burnt your finger while trying to be moe. That's some crazy matrix stuff combined with moe. I-I can't believe you, Miyuki is nothing compared to you!"

"Uhm tanks Konata, I guess at least. But what about the soup?" Both started laughing at how stupid they were and concentrated on the soup again.

"Yeah, right. We first have to pour it through a sieve to get rid of the kelp and the bonito and after that, we pour the clear broth back in the pot."

"Now we can add the remaining stuff, right?!" Kagami slowly getting impatient again.

"The mushrooms first, they need longer. A couple minutes later you can add the seaweed, leek and the tofu."

…..

4 minutes later.

"We can add the miso paste now."

"Okay." Kagami opened the box. "Wait! How much?"

"Good Kagamin~. How much do you think you need?"

"Uhm... about this much?" Kagami indicated a much too big portion of the miso paste.

"No no, this is way too much. Try a fourth of it first."

"Okay." Kagami nodded and added the miso paste into the pot.

"Now keep stirring the soup until the paste is dissolved. In addition to that, the soup isn't allowed to cook anymore so we have to keep the heat down or the miso flavor will fade."

….

5 minutes later.

"Taste a bit of it." Konata said.

"Sure." Kagami took a spoon and had a taste. "Hmm… it's a bit bland."

"I know."

"How do you know? You didn't even taste it." Kagami doubtfully looked at Konata.

"You need to add some more of the miso paste."

"And why didn't you tell me the right amount in the first place."

"That's another lesson." Konata explained. "Adding stuff later because it's too bland is way easier than correcting the error of adding too much in the first place."

"I see. It makes sense, thanks Konata." She took a mental note and continued.

"So. Much. Praise. Gonna. Burst." Konata shouted overdramatically. "Add this much..." She gestured at the miso box. "… and it should be perfect. And for the next time you can remember this rule for miso soup. One spoon per portion. Our soup is enough for four people so four spoons would be more or less perfect.

"Sounds easy to remember. I still can't believe it, helpful advice from Konata." Kagami sighed in a happy manner and Konata smiled.

…..

10 minutes later, the soup was finished and they were sitting at the table.

"Wow this is really good." Kagami was incredibly happy.

"Yes it really is. Good job, Kagamin~." Konata nodded

"Why are you praising me? I only helped a bit."

"What do you mean? I only boiled the water and cut the tofu. Sure, I saved you one or two times but the actual cooking was all done by yourself." Konata explained.

"Wait, so this is my work here? You're not just trying to cheer me up, right?"

"Why should I cheer you up?"

"Wow." Kagami became even more cheerful.

"My child sure is growing fast." Konata joked and both started laughing.

"So this is something more or less entirely done by me. I can't believe it." Kagami was truly happy. She even had a small tear in her eye.

"Moe." Konata quietly said. "And it's good." She added. "I bet next time you can do it without me."

"Next time?"

"Sure, you have to redo it to remember the steps. Let's say Friday."

"Sounds good. Let's finish eating now."

"Yeah and let's do the pudding later. We still have plenty time today."

* * *

The same time at the Hiiragi home. Tsukasa and her mother Miki were sitting in the kitchen.

"I wonder how Kagami is doing and Konata, poor Konata, I bet she's already in despair." Miki said while sighing.

"Yeah, Kona-chan looked pretty worn out today at school. They tried to cook rice yesterday."

"No way!" Miki bolted up. "Didn't you warn her?"

"I tried but I couldn't finish."

"What happened then?"

"Well… the rice was smoking and Kona-chan was pretty shocked, but it didn't explode like last time here..." Both looked at the ceiling with the huge -pot form like- dent and sighed.

"That's good, Konata seems to have a good reaction." Miki was relieved.

"Yeah and she's a really good cook, easily better than me."

"Really? Wow, then she maybe even has a chance."

"She really has. In fact, she already did. They made curry together yesterday and brought some to school for lunch and it was in fact perfectly edible." Tsukasa explained.

"No way, are you sure Konata didn't made it on her own."

"100%, I've tried Kona-chans curry before and it was totally different."

"Wow... I can't believe it…"

"End even more so, both looked like they had fun in the kitchen."

"Wait, what? Is Konata by any chance an alien?"

"No… wait... no. I don't think so..." Tsukasa actually started thinking about it.

"Wow, she is really something special, that Konata." Miki was totally amazed at the events.

"Absolutely." Tsukasa nodded.

* * *

Back to Konata and Kagami. Both had just sneezed quite hard.

"Wow, what was that?" Both asked.

"I bet someone was talking about that." Konata said.

"Yeah, sure." Kagami doubted her explanation.

"What are we doing now?" Konata asked.

"We still have homework to." Konata instantly started groaning.

"Really? Okay you start, I copy later."

"No, we are doing it together!"

"Kagamin~, I just taught you how to cook miso soup. I earned that!" Konata started protesting.

"Yes and I'm thankful for that and because of you teaching me how to cook, I'm going to teach you how to homework. Or something like that… you get what I mean."

"Kagamin~? Are you by any chance a sadist?" Konata was totally serious with her question.

"Depends... Are you a masochist? I mean you're teaching me cooking. I can't find a better explanation." Konatas jaw fell open. She was shocked and surprised by that comeback.

"I-I… which page are we on right now." She just opened a random textbook near her. Kagami couldn't held it anymore and busted into laughing. Konata tried to ignore her and concentrated on the textbook she grabbed. She didn't learn much from it because it was upside down all the time.

"Wow, that was great." Kagami said. _'Best day ever!'_

….

One and a half hour later, the homework was done.

"Kagamin~, release me already, I can't take any more homework."

"Don't worry, we're done."

"Yay!" Konata cheered up while she stood up and tackled Kagami in a surprise hug from behind.

"Konata, if you hug me, at least hug me from the front so I can hug back." Kagami teased in an extreme seductive tone. Maybe Konata was right and she really became a bit of a sadist.

"K-Kagamin... w-what was that?" It was definitely too much for Konata.

"Don't you remember? You're getting the moe packet today. All-inclusive." Kagami was on a high.

"I'm scared, happy and confused. Kagamin~, how many more personalities do you have in there?

"Shut up, idiot."

"Ahh good, my favorite is still in there. Well, the new one is okay, too, I guess just unusual…" Konata scratched her chin.

"Don't worry, I'm back to normal tomorrow."

"Aww... Anyway, should we try the pudding now? Normally it's done in a couple minutes because it's instant stuff but..." Konata decided against finishing her sentence

"Sure."

The two then went downstairs in the kitchen again.

"How does this pudding powder stuff works?" Kagami asked while eying the package.

"Pretty easy. Heat up milk in a pot, add sugar and the mix, stir until for some time, let it cool down and serve." Konata explained.

"So pretty much foolproof?" Kagamis asked.

"Well usually yeah, but I thought the same about rice but here are you." Konata worldly beliefs were greatly shaken.

"Don't blame me, blame the rice. Can I try it?" She can be really stubborn.

"Sure, go ahead." Konata said thought about getting a helmet for a short time.

…..

Seven minutes and 37 seconds later.

"I'm sorry Konata! I'm sorry Konata! I'm sorry Konata! I'm sooo sorry Kona…" Kagamis apologizing was interrupted by Konata who was hysterically laughing.

"It's okay, Kagamin~. It's way too funny to be mad at. Just tell me how that happened." The whole kitchen, including the two girls were completely covered in pudding.

"I-I don't know, I mixed the stuff exactly as they should be and you also confirmed it. It was cooking for a couple minutes and just in the moment I touched the pot… THIS." Kagami explained and Konata exploded in another wave of laughing.

"T-This is way too good. This is pure gold. You're not only better than manga… you're even better than anime. I really found an increase to that compliment from yesterday. I can't believe it. You're the best, Kagamin~!"

"I-I don't know how I'm supposed to feel right now…" Kagami said but after looking at Konata, she couldn't help but to start laughing as well.

"I… we have to take a photo of this. We just have to!" Konata was overjoyed.

"No we don't have…" Kagami started looking around including at Konata and herself. "Okay, yes, get the camera!" Konata immediately went off to get said camera.

She placed the camera on the kitchen counter, after she found a clean place, and set the timer on it. The photo showed the two girls, arm in arm, laughing and completely covered in pudding from head to foot. In the background was the kitchen, which also had pudding all over it. Konata then hugged Kagami, which only caused more pudding on their clothes.

"Wow, that was great. Thanks for that." Konata giggled.

"You know what Konata?" Kagami said while putting her finger on Konatas nose just to wipe up some pudding to eat it herself. "The pudding is good."

"K-Kagamin~." Konata stuttered. She really had a hard time with the assertive Kagami.

"Ahh Konata! Your nose is bleeding!" Kagami shouted.

"T-That's your fault!" Konata shouted back while holding her nose. "That level of moe is criminal!"

"I kind of overdid it, didn't I? Kagami asked or rather teased but also blushed a bit on her own. Teasing doesn't come with a price for beginner.

"Yeah, a bit, but it was nice. Besides, it wasn't much. I think my nose is already good again."

"That's good because I think we should clean the kitchen..." Kagami started.

"…and take a bath." Konata finished the sentence.

"Yeah."

They cleaned the kitchen pretty quick. They were almost done after 20 minutes.

"Konata, let me wash the dishes. Go on and take your bath." Kagami suggested.

"No, after all you're my guest."

"Nope, that chaos is my fault, so let me at least clean the dishes."

"Fine, besides the housewife is in the kitchen cleaning the dishes while the husband is taking a bath is a pretty moe situation on its own so I will allow it! Newlywed moe or something"

"I don't even know where I should start so shut up and go!" Kagami just stared blankly at her.

"Music in my ears." Konata cheered.

Konata went into the bath while Kagami was cleaning the remaining dishes. Konata finished 25 minutes later and Kagami then took her bath afterwards. Konata was reading a manga on Kagamis futon when Kagami entered.

"Ahh, I needed that. I'm alive again." Kagami said while entering the room and crashing face first onto Konatas bed.

"You sure make yourself feel at home, huh?" Konata looked at the sight of Kagami on her bed.

"Urg..." She groaned back. "Your bed is really uncomfortable." Kagami more or less ignored her while standing up again.

"Yeah, I definitely need a new one. I also hate it." Konata agreed. "Ah, you wearing your hair open again. A pretty good end to moe Wednesday."

"Almost…" She started and then sat down behind Konata and hugged her tightly. A couple moments later, she moved away and sat down next to Konata who was looking in disbelief at her. "This is how you end something like that!" She added with a smile.

"K-Kagamin~..." Konata started blushing a bit again. "D-Do you want to give me another nosebleed?" Konata was looking pretty puzzled.

"Sure, why not? Your reaction is fun and it looks pretty cute." Kagami teased.

"I-I… y-you..." Konata took a deep breath to regain her composure. "Wow, I'm going to miss that side. Are you sure you don't want to keep at least a bit of it?" Konata asked after calming down.

"Shut up, idiot!" Kagami playfully shouted. ' _Well the teasing was indeed nice, maybe…'_

"Well, tsundere is nice on its own and so I will probably survive."

"I'm not a tsundere, miss otaku." Konata started laughing. Kagami couldn't help it and joined. _'Yep the teasing maybe really stays…'_

Shortly after, Konata and Kagami started watching a movie and went to bed afterwards. Konata had yet another dream.

"...Kagamin~, the pudding… how did the pudding end there… there's still something…" She really has some weird sleeping habits.

* * *

.

Agressive Kagami sure ist best Kagami...

Konata definitely lost a couple years of her life already by now but I would say it's worth it.

Kagami will not only prove her newly earned cooking skills next time, Konata will also get attacked by Kagami so look forward to that.


	7. It's exhausting even without cooking

The following morning, a Thursday. A reoccurring event was on its best way to become a tradition.

"I could get used to that." Konata was thinking while being on Kagamis futon again. "Not that I have a choice in the first place. Is she kidnapping me out of my bed or what is going on in the night?" She genuinely couldn't understand how they always end up like that.

"…Konata, you still have some pudding on you." Kagami suddenly mumbled in her sleep. "Let me get if for you…"

"Still a bit moe, aren't we?" Konata teased. "Wednesday is over Kagamin~… well, whatever.

"Shut up, idiot."

"Wow, a comeback while sleeping, nice one Kagamin~." Konata admitted. "How about waking up for now?"

"I'm awake, idiot."

"Two idiots in a row, huh? It's also not tsun Tuesday… Wait, since when?"

"At the moe part."

"Ah, so you were talking in your sleep again, Kagamin~."

"So were you last night…" Kagami mumbled back.

"Huh?!" Konata wasn't expecting that. "What? What did I say?"

"I'm not sure, something about pudding on me. I was too sleepy to fully understand. After hearing you crashing on the floor and being silent, I went back to sleep."

"Hah, you said exactly the same a couple minutes ago. Wait a moment… you heard me crashing on the floor and didn't say something or you know, helped me?"

"It sounded funny so I decided against it." Kagami teased. Her eyes were still closed.

"You're pretty evil. I bet you just wanted me to be down there so you can hug me again." Konata teased back.

"Why should I hug you?"

"I don't know. Actually, I really would like to know the same thing. Maybe you do like it after all and yesterday wasn't just all teasing."

"Yeah, sure, that must be it." Kagami answered in a way you could even smell the sarcasm.

"By the way, Kagamin~…"

"What?"

"I'm still on your futon and you're still hugging me. I mean I'm not complaining or anything but it doesn't prove your point, not at all." Kagami finally opened her eyes after hearing those words and immediately started blushing.

"Why are you on my futon again!? Stop that already!" Kagami yelled.

"Kagamin~, you just told me you saw or rather heard me falling out of my bed and I was obviously still asleep then. It can't be my fault, you know?" Konatas reasoning was flawless for once.

"Well, I honestly still don't know what happened here. Let's just leave it at that." Kagami accepted her defeat. ' _I really wonder what happens when I sleep.'_

"Sure, it's a nice way to wake up so I don't mind it at all. It's just a bit odd, that's all."

"I'm hungry, let's eat something." Kagami decided to change to subject.

"Okay. After all, I can't let come anything between Kagamin~ and her food." Konata teased.

"Shut up."

….

They were sitting in the kitchen by now. Konata had quickly fixed some breakfast including the left over miso soup from yesterday. The two chatted a bit until they finally left for school.

…..

At school, lunch break as usual.

"…and the pudding was, like, everywhere." Konata was telling Tsukasa and Miyuki the incident from the last day.

"Wow, oneechan really is 'special'..." Tsukasa was amazed by the talents of her sister.

"Ehm, Izumi-san, was it by any chance vanilla pudding?" Miyuki suddenly asked.

"Huh? Yeah, why? Wait, how do you know?" Konata was a bit confused.

"You have something in your hair which looks like vanilla pudding."

"Ehh?! No way, we took a bath afterwards."

"Look." Miyuki took a tissue and cleaned Konatas hair. "Here, it looks like pudding."

"That's indeed the pudding from yesterday. Weird…"

"What's weird?" Kagami asked, she was a bit late from her class. She was standing behind Konata and had her arms resting on Konatas shoulder while leaning slightly towards her.

"Oh, still a bit clingy? I see." Konata smirked at her.

"Shut up. So, what's weird?"

"Sit down and bow your head. I want to check something." Konata said and Kagami followed the demand without much thinking.

"And now?"

"You too, that's really weird."

"What me too?" Kagami asked before Konata took a tissue and cleaned Kagamis hair.

"We both had pudding in our hair."

"Huh? "Wait, how's that possible? We took a bath afterwards."

"I know, I said the same before."

"Hmm…" Tsukasa started. "Ah, something similar happened at home before. Kona-chan, did you two clean the ceiling after onee-chans accident?"

"Uhh, have you?" Both, Konata and Kagami, faced each other and said in perfect synch.

"I guess that's a no?" Tsukasa was right with her idea.

"Yeah, looks like it." Konata added.

"Ah, I understand." Miyuki nodded. "There is still some pudding on the ceiling which dripped down earlier while you two were eating breakfast."

"That sounds logical…" Konata started.

"…and nasty" And Kagami finished.

"Did you two eat at least some of the pudding? It sure sound like a waste." Tsukasa innocently asked. After remembering yesterday, the two immediately started blushing.

"Well... uhm… Kagamin~ did. I didn't because was slightly distracted at this moment." Konata mumbled.

"Yeah... I-it was good, I guess." Kagami stuttered, clearly being a bit embarrassed.

"Is something wrong you two?" Miyuki asked after seeing their reaction.

"N-No no, nothing. Yesterday was, ehm, interesting. I learned a new side of Kagamin~, it was…" Konata stuttered and got interrupted.

"Come on, you clearly liked it." Kagami teased and made Konata even more nervous. _'Yep, this is still great.'_

 _'_ _I wonder what happened.'_ Miyuki was thinking. ' _The two definitely seems closer now.'_

"But you two seem to have fun, right?" Tsukasa asked.

"Yeah, it was a 'bit' unexpected but in a good way and yes, definitely fun." Konata nodded as she agreed with her.

"Yes, pretty funny indeed!" Kagami agreed and smirked at Konata. "Oh, and Tsukasa, I made great progress yesterday." She proudly announced.

"Really? With what?"

"I made miso soup and almost completely on my own on top of it."

"That's great, onee-chan." Tsukasa monotony answered but then. "Ehh?! You did what? No way!" She shouted afterwards.

"You really are pretty cruel when it comes to this topic, sis. I'll remember this when you need homework next time." Kagami pouted.

"I-I'm sorry oneechan." Tsukasa started fidgeting. "I don't mean to be cruel. I-It just seems pretty… well, unlikely. Especially after the pudding story from earlier. By the way, Miyuki often helps me with my homework lately after you more or less started living by Konata."

"It's true, I was surprised myself. In the end, I only helped her with the measuring stuff because she tends to use way too much but the actually cooking was more or less entirely done by her. Pretty impressive if you ask me." Konata explained while wearing a 'proud-teacher' face.

"See!" Kagami was extremely proud with herself.

"Wow, that's great!" Tsukasa cheered. "I really didn't expect that. Especially after two days. Oh, I was talking with my mom about you two yesterday and she wanted to know something, Kona-chan."

"Ha! I knew it!" Konata suddenly shouted.

"What's now wrong?" A startled Kagami asked.

"Remember the sneeze we had yesterday? I knew someone was talking about us." Konata explained. Kagami just sighed, although with a little smile.

"So what does mom wants to know, sis?" Kagami asked afterwards.

"She wanted to know if you're an alien by any chance, Kona-chan, because of your success with her cooking lessons."

"Really? Even mom? That's pretty depressing." Kagamis head hung low.

"Don't worry Kagamin~, they just don't know how to handle you." Konata teased.

"Wow, that sounds pretty…" Kagami wasn't convinced by Konatas reasoning.

"Weird but true." Both laughed a bit. "No Tsukasa, I'm not an alien. At least I think so. You can never be sure, it happens all the time in manga and anime but no, I don't think." Konata answered after hard thinking.

"But it would explain quite a lot." Kagami laughed.

"Okay, I will tell her, I sort of said already something similar." Tsukasa said.

"Tsukasa, I'm pretty sure she was just joking…" Kagami sighed again.

"Oh." Tsukasa was genuinely surprised.

"By the way..." Konata said while taking her camera out. "I took a photo from the 'incident' yesterday."

"Don't show that. It's super embarrassing." Kagami shouted.

"But onee-chan, I want to see it." Tsukasa started begging.

"Fine... But don't you dare and show it to someone else besides us four!" Kagami demanded and Konata showed the picture to the girls. The picture of the two of them in Konatas kitchen while completely covered in pudding which was also scattered all over the kitchen.

"Aww, you two are really look like you're having fun." Tsukasa cheered.

"Yeah, it's a bit exhausting but fun, except the rice incident." Konata honestly answered.

"You know we're going to try rice again, right Konata?" Kagami announced and Konata just gulped.

"Somehow you two look cute together. If it were some of Izumi-sans games I could totally see you two eating the pudding from each other afterwards." Miyuki explained, trying to imitate one of Konatas jokes she always do. However, after hearing that, Kagami turned beet red and Konata started violently coughing.

"D-Don't s-say such weird things, M-Miyuki." Kagami stuttered.

"I'm sorry Kagami-san. I wanted to try one of Izumi-sans jokes but I'm afraid it didn't turn out very well." Miyuki bowed as she apologized.

"D-Don't worry Miyuki. it was pretty good actually…" Konata answered until receiving a glare from Kagami. "But I think these kind of jokes are something only I can do." She quickly finished.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want something to upset you or something like that." Miyuki apologized. _'Wow, this was quite an interesting reaction from the two.'_

"No no Miyuki, we aren't upset or anything." Kagami said afterwards.

"We were just surprised. We weren't expecting something like this coming from you." Konata added.

"Uhm Yuki-chan?" Tsukasa asked, trying to change the weird atmosphere. "Can we try to cook something together too when I come over next time? The two seem to have so much fun and I want to try it with a friend too."

"I'm afraid that I'm not very good at cooking, so I would probably just be a burden to you." Miyuki explained. After hearing that, Tsukasa and Konata immediately busted into laughter. Kagami just glared at them.

"Miyuki..." Konata said after calming down a little. "If I can handle Kagamin~, more or less at least, Tsukasa is going to have absolutely no problem with you."

"Exactly Yuki-chan, I'm sure it's going to be fun." Tsukasa was really eager.

"Okay, we can try something easy together."

"Yay!" Tsukasa happily jumped up and down on her chair.

"Does no one here has at least a bit faith in me?" Kagami pouted once more.

"I do or why else would I do it? We just like to tease each other." Konata explained.

"Thanks. Wait, we? Why we?"

"Remember yesterday? You know exactly why I said we."

"Shut up." Kagami said with a little smile. Miyuki and Tsukasa just looked at each other, a bit confused again.

A couple moments later, the lunch break was over again.

…

Later that day in Konatas home. The two were in the kitchen.

"Wow, Miyuki and Tsukasa were right, the ceiling really is full of pudding." Konata stared at said ceiling in the kitchen.

"I'm sorry Konata."

"Don't worry, you didn't do it on purpose. I think at least you didn't… I hope. Besides, I didn't check the ceiling either yesterday."

"Thanks and of course I didn't do it on purpose. I don't even know how I could do something like that."

"That's true. I still don't know how that is even possible." Konata was kind of impressed.

"Shut up!"

"But I think you have to clean the ceiling…" Konata started. "I think even if I climb on the table, I still…" Konata was interrupted.

"I see." Kagami looked down on her little friend. "Let the tall people handle the tall quests." Kagami teased.

"Oi! You aren't tall either, just taller than me!" Konata pouted.

"Whatever makes you feel better." Kagami laughed.

Kagami climbed on the table and cleaned the ceiling. Konata cleaned the floor from the stuff what dripped down.

"Kagamin~ can we take it easy today?" Konata asked after they finished the cleaning.

"What do you mean?"

"Let's skip the cooking lessons for today, order a pizza or something like that and play a game in my room. I'm pretty tired."

"Okay, well to be honest, I'm pretty tired myself. But tomorrow we'll do something again, right? Don't quit now!"

"Of course! I already told you you're going to do the miso soup on your own tomorrow. And I mean completely on your own."

"You're pretty brave!" Kagami teased.

"I'm pretty sure I proved that many times the last days already. Besides, I first have to plan some more stuff. We should try something with meat. And you have to become friends with the rice and this is going to be a huge project." Konata explained.

"Stupid rice. It's not like him at all in the first place or want him to like me at all." Kagami pouted.

"Kagamin~, it's just rice you don't need to go tsun on it!" Konata started laughing.

"Shut up, you idiot!" She said but couldn't help to smile as well.

"So, just playing a game today is fine?" Konata came back to the topic.

"Yeah, I'm in but I'm afraid to tell you that we have to do something before that."

"Don't tell me it is what it is I think." Konatas face turned pale.

"Exactly!"

"Kagamin~! Please! Let's just not do that." Konata tried negotiating as she fell down on her knees.

"Nope, no chance."

"There are some moments where I seriously don't like you…" Konata pouted.

….

A couple minutes later. The two girls were sitting at the table in Konatas room and were doing their homework. Luckily for Konata, it wasn't much this day and they finished rather quickly. Still, happy wasn't the right word to describe her state. She came up with a new plan. In fact, it was an old but working plan. She tackled Kagami in the usual surprise hug from behind.

"Kagamin~, we can stop now, right?"

"Yes, we're done. What did I tell you about the hugging thing?

"Not in public?"

"No, I mean yes but that's not what I mean right now!" Kagami hissed.

"Uhm... ah! From the front so you can hug me back?" Konata teased.

"Noo! Well, yes I also said that but that's still not what I meant and you know that!"

"Fine!" Konata released her. "You're pretty hard to please, Kagamin~."

"I... Shut up! What about food now?"

"Ah food that's always a safe bet."

"Ko-na-ta!" She was getting impatient.

"Fine fine! So pizza is okay, right? Which one do you want?" Konata asked, pulling out a card from a delivery service.

"Ehm... Small tuna is fine." Kagami answered after looking a couple seconds at it.

"Really? Are you sure you don't want a large?"

"You know I want to lose weight so just stay silent here."

"Yeah yeah, your weird plans on losing weight. So a small tuna and a big salami. I'm going to call the place now."

"Wait, you eat a big one?" Kagami asked perplexed.

"Well probably not at one time but with all my night gaming I began to like cold pizza which I eat later."

"You're pretty weird… Cold pizza… sounds gross." Kagami shivered.

"It's actually pretty nice. Don't judge food before you try it Kagamin~!"

"I have this distinct feeling you're mocking me right now…"

"No, of course not." Konata smirked.

"Someday I'm going to kill you for sure."

"Probably with your food!" Konata yelled after exiting the room.

"Oh! You're so dead later." Kagamis face got a really evil look on it as she planned something.

….

5 minutes later, Konata finished ordering and came back. Kagami was hiding herself.

"Kagamin~, they said it took about 40 minutes until it's ready. Pretty lazy people if you ask me."

"Kagami?" Konata asked after seeing her not in the room.

Kagami left her hiding place behind the door. She sneaked up behind Konata who was still wondering where she went. Kagami then jumped at her little friend and tackled her down. She was sitting on top if the blue haired girl, pinning her down on the floor. Konata was unable to move, not that she was looking like she wants to move in the first place. Kagami could swear she saw a slight blush on Konata.

"K-Kagamin~ what are you..." Konata was stuttering, until she had an idea at least. "Kagamin~, please be gentle." Konata teased with an almost seductive voice and it had an immediate effect.

"K-K-Konata... s-shut up." It worked, Kagamis face could probably glow in the dark right now. "I-It's n-nothing like you're thinking right now." Kagami stuttered.

"Oh my, Kagamin~ is having perverted thoughts, huh?"

"N-No, I'm not. I'm not you, idiot!"

"Really? And still, you're sitting on top of me, pinning me down on the ground and making me unable to escape or even defend myself." Konata continued her teasing.

"N-Nothing like that! Why should I in the first place? I'm just going to kill you. Like I promised you earlier!" She managed to calm down a bit... sort of.

"Oh! Death by tsundere rage, not my first choice as you know but to be honest, I saw that one coming one day."

"Shut up, I'm still not a tsundere in the first place!"

"Yeah, of course you not." Konata said in a jokingly manner. "So, how am I going to die?"

"Hmm." Kagami looked down at Konata beneath her. "I don't know why but I feel this huge urge to tickle you. I think I will go with this." Kagami added with a devious smile.

"K-Kaga…" Konata had no time to finish.

Kagami, who was still sitting on top of Konata, began tickling her. Konata tried her best to resist but she never had a chance in the first place. She started laughing immediately. With that, Kagami got even more motivated because she just learned that her little friend was indeed ticklish and a lot on top of it. Kagami tickled her all over and Konata was practically dying of laughter.

Later, in Konatas point of view much later, Kagami finally stopped. Konata still laid on the floor. She was heavily panting for air because she was completely exhausted by the _punishment_ she received from the bigger girl. Kagami wasn't on top of her anymore. She was lying right next to her on the floor because she also was a bit exhausted. Despite the exhaustion, Kagami was still laughing and so was Konata.

"Man, that was great." Kagami said. "I would've never expected you to be that ticklish."

"I-It's... not... that... I had a... chance in the... first place..." Konata was still panting between her words. "Even... a chair... would be ticklish after such an attack." She added after getting some more air.

"Yeah, I may have gone a bit overboard..." Kagami added while blushing a bit.

"Nah, I uhm... somehow… even had fun, Kagamin~." She said. "But..."

"But?" Kagami asked.

"My revenge will be written down in history books." Konata answered in the most serious tone she could manage right now.

"Oh, really? Maybe I should finish you off right now?" Kagami teased while raising her head.

"Oh no please spare me for now, o great Kagami-sama!"

"Oi! What did I tell you about this name? You're only digging your own grave there." She warned. "Besides, as if you ever going to open a history book on your own."

"That's true… But wow, I've never expected you to be the aggressive one between the two of us..." Konata said.

"Shut up, idiot."

The two looked a second or two at each other and busted into laughter again because of that stupid conversation they had until they heard the doorbell ringing.

"Wait, didn't you say something about 40 minutes later?" Kagami asked.

"Kagamin~, by the way you assaulted me… it was easily 30 minutes. Anyway, we should open the door."

"Wow, that didn't sound wrong at all or something."

…..

They opened the door and the delivery guy was simply staring at the two for some reason.

"Ehm... I'm sorry to interrupt you girls, you two look like you were kinda… uhm, busy… but... I have your pizzas here." The delivery guy nervously said after looking at the two.

The two looked at each other because of the confused delivery guy and realized something. Konatas hair was a complete mess, her clothes were wrinkled and even a little bit undone and her face was still a bit red due to the exhaustion and laughing dealt by Kagamis 'attack'. Kagami didn't look much better. One of her twintails were loose, her clothes also wrinkled and her face was red due to the constant laughter before just like Konata. On top of that, both were a bit sweaty.

"I... uhm we..." Kagami stuttered.

"Ehm... anyway, here's your money." Konata said to the delivery guy.

The delivery guy handed over the pizzas with a smile on his face and left.

"I wonder what he was thinking." Kagami, completely oblivious, asked.

"Y-Yeah, well he was weird since the first time I met him but the pizzas of his place are nice so…"

They ate their pizzas in the kitchen and went back to Konatas room, sitting on her bed. Konata loaded a game from her console and handed Kagami one of her controllers over.

"Hey, I think I know this game... wasn't there a sequel coming next week?" Kagami said after seeing the title screen of the game on the TV.

"For someone who supposedly doesn't care about that kind of things, you sure know your stuff." Konata remarked.

"S-Shut up, I don't. I just saw a commercial of it last week. Nothing more! Knowing you, I bet you on the other hand probably preordered it already, am I right?"

"My Kagamin~ sure knows me well. I preordered the limited edition ages ago." Konata proudly answered.

"Even the limited edition… you sure are week when it comes to that." Kagami sighed.

"A collector has to do what a collector has to do."

"So is the first game any good?"

"Uhm, actually this is the first time I'm playing it." Konata awkwardly scratched her head.

"Wait, so you are buying a limited edition of a game you don't even know the prequel of?" Kagami looked in disbelief at the other girl.

"Kagamin~, you look like you wouldn't have expected that… and I thought you know me…" She faked a sob.

"Yeah, sorry I was thinking of you as a normal person for a second, won't happen again." Kagami jokingly said.

The two played the game for a couple hours. As usual, they were making an almost unbelievable progress as a team.

"That game is pretty good." Kagami admitted.

"And that's why I preordered the sequel!"

"Haven't you said earlier that you never played the game before?"

"Kagamin~, don't always cling to such small and unimportant details!"

"I seriously wouldn't call that a small detail…" Kagami mumbled.

"Kagamin~, you're doing it again."

"Man, you really are driving me insane sometimes."

"Sometimes it is, huh? Great, so I still have room to improve." Konata cheered.

"You don't have to, idiot." Kagami hissed.

"Cute as always."

"Grr." Kagami growled. "But the game is pretty straight forward. It would be cool to have something to do besides the main story like collecting some weapons and stuff." She added to change the subject.

"I bet you're going to like the sequel then. They say it has a lot of RPG elements, which means tons of side quest and collecting weapons and stuff." Konata advertised.

"Doesn't sound bad. I may have to check it out when you have it."

"Sure thing, I even heard you can use your savegame from the first game and continue were you left it." Konata said.

"That's pretty cool. Anyway, I think we should stop for today it's already really late and I'm quite tired."

"Kagamin~, I can already smell the next checkpoint. It's right after the next corner. After that, we can stop."

"Man, you really need to learn when you should stop."

"Don't be like that Kagamin~, I know you also want to reach it."

"I think I'm around you too much." Kagami sighed as she grabbed the controller harder again.

"See? Besides, there is no such thing as too much when it comes to that." Konata teased.

…..

They reached the checkpoint after 20 minutes.

"So much about right after the next corner…" Kagami started. "It's bedtime now and don't even argue with that. Your movement the last 5 minutes were pretty bad. You're clearly as tired as me, if not even more."

No reaction.

"Konata, did you hear me? Konata?" Kagami looked to her side and saw Konata sleeping on the bed, leaning her back against the wall. "Wait, what? You were sleeping _*yawn*_ how the hell were you sleeping and gaming at the same time? _*yawn*_ This shouldn't even be possible. Even for you…"

Kagami fell asleep seconds later as well.

* * *

.

Poor Konata, no cooking lessons but still gets almost killed. Well... you maybe could argue if that's a bad thing... probably not.

Next time she'll have to fear for her live the normal way as it gets back to the kitchen again.

Upcoming chapters maybe (or maybe not) coming a bit later because of less time available irl but I'll try my best... Maybe nothing even changes but whatever... Just to be informed.


	8. Sleeping habits

Yet another chapter full of cooking and bed problems.

* * *

The morning after. Another weird thing happened while the two were sleeping. Both had fallen asleep on Konatas bed after their excessive gaming session until late night. Kagami however was alone in the bed after waking up.

"Konata, why I am in your bed?" Kagamis memory was a bit hazy as she asked but didn't get an answer. She looked to the side and saw she was alone. "Konata? Where are you?" She then suddenly saw a little hand rising from the floor.

"I'm here Kagamin. By the way... god morning…" Konata was still half asleep.

"Uh yeah, good morning. So?" She quickly greeted back while staying on topic.

"So what?

"What is going on here, that is what!" Kagami already snapped a bit.

"Kagamin~, how am I supposed to know. I'm just lying here on the floor while you're in my bed and asking me something I didn't get because I was still sleeping while you started speaking. So… shouldn't I be asking you what's going on exactly?"

"I uhm… fair enough, I think. But even so, I don't have a clue either, I remember seeing you sleeping after we finished the game and I probably fell asleep on my own or something." Kagami gave a vague recollection of the last night.

"Yeah, that indeed doesn't really help."

"But on a side note, your bed is really uncomfortable. The floor is probably more comfortable in the first place so you lucked out." Kagami joked.

"Yeah, that's true. Hey, maybe that's the reason I ended on the floor."

"Sounds stupid but not unlikely, especially if it's you we're talking about."

"Oi." She shortly glared at her but continued. "Either that or you kicked me out of my own bed." Konata started laughing dryly.

"Hmm." Kagami actually started thinking about it.

"Kagamin~?!"

"Just joking Konata. I mean, I can't be sure. I can see it but I don't think so... Besides, you ended up on the floor the last couple days on your own."

"Pretty mean… But that's true and the last times I ended up there, it was the exact opposite of you kicking me out." Konata teased.

"Shut up, I told you that wasn't on purpose."

"But I really need a new bed. The day my dad comes back, I'll beg him for a new one."

"That's probably a good idea." Kagami agreed.

"Oho, I…"

"Don't even think of finishing your sentence." Another glare was shot at Konata.

"You're pretty lively in the morning, Kagamin~. I think I'll just go back to sleep until I can keep up with you…"

"We have to go to school. We even are already a bit late."

"Well, if I sleep her or in school doesn't make that much of a difference. Okay, you win and I'll continue in school."

"Totally hopeless." Kagami concluded their discussion.

…..

Same day, after school. Kagami and Konata were again in the supermarket near Konatas home.

"So, what are we doing today?" Kagami asked as they strolled through the market.

"Well… you're doing your miso soup thing. You're going to buy the stuff now and I'm going to get an inspiration for some other things to cook."

"W-Wait, I'm going to buy it on my own?"

"Sure, you remember the ingredients, right?" Konata had high expectations.

"Ehm yeah, I think so." Kagami stuttered.

"What's the problem then? Besides, that's only the start. Today I'm not going to help you at all with the soup so better be ready!"

"Ehh? You're really sure with that?" She really wasn't confident when it comes to the real thing.

"Kagamin~, I was never less sure with anything I did in my live before." Konata teased, mostly at least.

"Thanks for the honesty." Kagami pouted.

"Who wasn't confident in herself in the first place, Kagamin~?"

"Fine, shut up and get your stuff and I'll get mine. You're in for a surprise today!"

"I know that already, I just hope it's a good one." It was Konatas time for a mood drop.

"Go already!"

15 minutes later, both finished their shopping for ingredients.

"Got everything you need?" Konata asked as they met up.

"I think so, want to check?" Her voice wasn't that convincing.

"Nope." Konata bluntly answered.

"What? But what if…"

"Do you have everything or not, Kagamin~?"

"You're a pretty odd teacher."

"Well, I spent a lot time of with Kuroi-sensei."

"That explains a lot."

"Ehm Kagamin~, she's behind you!"

"W-What, I'm sorry sens… Konata, there is no one!" Kagami shouted after she turned around and checked her surroundings.

"But your face was brilliant."

"I should have killed you yesterday." Kagami pouted and Konata just started laughing.

"So, can we finally go now?" Konata asked after calming down.

"Sure, wait what are you going to make?"

"Fried pork cutlets. I can show you some stuff but I can't let you near a frying pan yet. Too dangerous for me, you and the kitchen."

"Oi!" Kagami hissed.

"Kagamin~..." Konata doubtfully looked at her.

"Okay, you're right." She quickly averted her gaze.

"Let's go then."

"Sure."

….

Back at home, both were already in the kitchen. Konata was watching Kagami preparing the ingredients for her miso soup.

Kagami cut the tofu, the bigger mushrooms and the leek, a bit unequal in the size but still okay. Afterwards she started to soak the kelp and seaweed in a bowl of water. The amount of dried ingredients she used was still a bit too much but she was nearer to the ideal amount. Kagami then put some water in a pot and started to let it boil. She afterwards added a handful of bonito and the soaked kelp. Just like Konata had explained it to her the other day.

"Man, it's getting pretty hot in here don't you think?" Konata suddenly asked after making a suspicious looking face.

"I think it's fine." Kagami asked

"You sure, weird."

 _"_ _What was that."_ Kagami was thinking. _'Oh wait the broth is just supposed to simmer, not boiling.'_ She thought and earned a nod from Konata. ' _Man she is good.'_

10 minutes later, she filtered the kelp and the bonito out of the broth. She was about to add the mushrooms.

"You sure Kagamin~?" Konata out of nowhere asked.

"Uhm yeah, I think so, the mushrooms need longer. That's what you said last time, didn't you?"

"Sorry Kagamin, I can't answer that. Just putting a bit pressure on you." Konata teased.

"Wow you really are like Kuroi-sensei."

"Thanks."

"That wasn't a compliment. Not even close."

"I can't wait to show sensei the recordings of that."

"W-What?" Kagami turned pale.

"Just joking Kagamin~. Shut up and keep cooking."

"You're really cocky, aren't you? I think I have to kill you again!" Kagami teased.

Konata gulped because she really could be killed by the food and Kagami laughed a bit. She then proceeded with the soup. She added the mushrooms because she was relatively sure it was right. She added the leek, the tofu and the seaweed a couple minutes later. After adding the amount of miso paste she thought was right, she turned the heat down and started stirring the soup until the miso paste was completely dissolved.

"I-I think I'm done." Kagami said.

"Looks like it." Konata acknowledged. "Let it simmer a bit more and in the meantime, I'll quickly show you the basics of pork cutlets.

"Okay." Kagami nodded.

"First you set up a pan and fill with a good amount of oil so the cutlets can swim in it."

"Looks healthy." Kagami said, looking at her belly.

"Don't worry Kagamin~, it's fine every once in a while."

"Yeah yeah."

"Then you cut out some meat in thin slices, pound it a bit to make it more tender and coat it with floor."

"Okay." Kagami nodded as she took the steps in.

"Now you stir some eggs in a bowl and dip the meat in it. And as the final step, you cover it with bread crumbs."

"Doesn't sound that hard." Kagami noted.

"Because it isn't. Now we put cutlets in the hot oil but be careful not to splash any of it."

"That part on the other hand looks rather dangerous." Kagami took some safety distance to the pan.

"Well, it's a bit if you're not careful and that's why I'm doing it right now and not you. If you get better someday, I may let you try."

"When." Kagami announced. "When I get better, not -if- and you being careful? That's news to me." Kagami teased.

"That's the spirit, at least the first part. Anyway, if the cutlet gets this golden brown color, it's done and you can take it out. Then you get rid of the excess oil with a paper towel and cut it into stripes. If you want, you can add some shredded cabbage to the plate for decoration." Konata finished her explaining.

"Okay, I'm pretty hungry now." Kagami started and her stomach gave an approving noise. "Don't say anything now!" She quickly shouted and Konata giggled.

"Let's eat."

"First good idea from you today." Kagami teased.

"Oi!"

They started eating.

"Hmm." Kagami was a bit disappointed.

"Yeah, it's a bit salty." Konata added.

"You shut up! You haven't even tasted it yet, idiot!" Kagami snapped and got pretty angry.

"Kagamin~, I didn't but I was watching you. You may used four spoons of miso, which is the right amount but the amount of miso _on_ the spoon was too much."

"Why didn't you say anything then?" Kagami was still angry.

"Because I told you that I'm not going to help you." Konata explained.

"You did help me with the temperature at the beginning!"

"What do you mean, Kagamin~? I felt just a bit hot, nothing more."

"You're a horrible liar." Kagamis anger started subsiding and Konata giggled a bit. "So, what did I do to you to deserve that."

"Nothing, but you have to learn from your errors, too and not just me explaining stuff. I bet you won't do it again."

"That's for sure." Kagami mumbled. "Still…"

"Just accept it and remember it for next time Kagamin~."

"Yeah yeah…" Kagami was still upset.

"Besides..." Konata finally tasted the soup. "It's not that bad. Wait, I have an idea." Konata stood up.

"What is it? Didn't you say that you can't save it if you add too much miso?" Kagami was looking at her.

"Yeah, normally that's true but it's not way too right now so this might at least help." Konata said while grabbing some sugar and adding a bit to the soup. "Try again now."

"Wow, that's better." Her face brightened up. "I mean you still can taste it a bit but it's way better than before."

"Yep but just remember using the right amount the next time and if you're not sure always use less and add a bit later."

"I will." She firmly nodded. "But your pork cutlet sure is something else. It's just perfect." Kagami got a bit jealous.

"It's pretty easy. I would say you can't really do anything wrong with it but the last days proved me wrong, so I can't use that sentence anymore."

"You really can be cocky if you want to." Kagami mumbled.

"Yeah, I bet it's weird to stand on the other side. Being lectured and stuff." Konata teased.

"It's irritating and I don't like it."

"I for one think it's pretty funny." Konata laughed.

"Really? I'm pretty sure you're forgetting something there." Kagami suddenly started grinning.

"And what would that be?" Konata asked out of curiosity with a hint of fear.

"We still have homework to do today."

Silence.

"And I think I'm trying your teaching methods today."

More silence, Konata was shocked and her face was pale.

"Konata? What's wrong, you look like you saw a ghost?" Kagami had fun.

"Kagamin~! You're way crueler than I could ever be." She started pouting.

"Why? Because you have to do your own homework?"

"Well... I uhm... Shut up, Kagamin~." Konata mumbled and Kagami started laughing.

"Talk about turning tables, huh? Kagami was still laughing.

….

Later that time while doing homework

"Kagamin~, really I can't handle it anymore. My brain can't handle this stuff." Konata whined.

"Geez, why can't you handle a bit homework?"

"Because it's exhausting and it sucks."

"But when it comes to anime and manga you're the most active and passionate girl I know and from my point of view, it's way more exhausting than homework could ever be."

"That's different, Kagamin~."

"Ah, I see, doing homework exhausts you because you don't like it?"

"Urgh." She was spot on.

"Hah!" Kagami said. "You really are something else."

"I know that I'm special!" Konata cheerfully agreed.

"That wasn't really a compliment. Besides, this isn't good for your future."

"Stupid future. It's far away anyway." Konata pouted again.

"It's not that far. We're already in our second year in high school. What are you going to do if I'm not around you anymore?" Kagami asked.

"Hmm." Konata said and Kagami saw Konata getting a bit sad after hearing that.

"At least to help you with your homework, I mean." Kagami quickly added.

"Kagamin~?"

"What is it, Konata?"

"Ah, nothing it's okay?" Konata quickly changed her mind.

"Okay, well let's stop the homework for now and stop talking about that. I'm also a bit tired." She felt like she had to change the subject for some reason.

"Yay!" Konata immediately cheered up as she stood up and tackled Kagami in a deep hug, causing her to fall over.

"H-How about we talk about your hugging? How about you stop it?" Kagami muttered, however she also started blushing a bit.

"Kagamin~, I know you like it." Konata teased.

"I-I don't!"

"How about that, Kagamin~? If you stop blushing every time I hug you, I may think about it."

"F-Fine! That's easy." Kagami said without any sign of getting less flustered.

"Ha, you're pretty easy to read."

"You're on to talk." Kagami answered. "Let's do something else for now."

"Sure, we still have to finish the game we started yesterday until next Tuesday."

"Why?"

"Kagamin~, I didn't expect your memory to be that bad."

"Shut up. Wait, you're talking about the sequel of the game, right?" Kagami remembered it after thinking a bit.

"Exactly."

"Sorry, I don't save all the useless wisdom you teach me."

"Kagamin~, you were the one who started the sequel talk. Besides, yesterday you seemed to be looking forward to it." Konata pouted.

"I uhm… Man, I think your influence is ruining me. Start that stupid game now."

"And you and I both know that you love it." Konata teased.

"Shut up, shorty." Kagami smirked at her.

"Oi!" Konata got a bit upset.

They started the game and as usual, the two were making great progress. Exactly like last night, they fell asleep on Konatas bed because she insisted on doing one more checkpoint even if it was already too late. Konata had a listless sleep and was moving quite a bit. Kagami then unknowingly, because still asleep, took action against it.

"Ouch!" Konata shrieked while forcefully leaving the bed and hitting the floor. "I knew it, Kagamin~!" Konata shouted as her head made contact with the floor.

"What's your... problem Konata?" Kagami yawned. "Be quiet, I want to sleep."

"Oh really? That's nice!" Konata hissed while raising her voice even more.

"What's going on? And why are you on the floor again?" Kagami asked while still more or less sleeping.

"YOU! That's what going on. YOU just kicked ME out of MY bed!" She showed no sign of calming down.

"No, I didn't."

"Oh, I see. So there's a third person in my bed who used his foot to kick me out?" Konata was getting sarcastic through her anger.

"Ehm no..." She was getting cornered.

"So it was you, huh?!"

"I don't know but even if I was, it wasn't on purpose."

"What now?"

"I'm sorry, now go to sleep again, I'm tired!"

"So that you can kick me out again or what?" Konatas anger started subsiding a bit and it became more of a pout.

"Well, you can sleep on the floor if you want."

"Kagamin~, that's my bed, you know?"

"Bad for you but I'm not moving an inch so make your choice." Kagami answered after she finally found a comfortable space on the bed.

"Wow, a sleepy Kagamin~ sure is moody and unreasonable."

" _*yawn*_ Like you're any better right now. Make your decision now and sleep!"

"Okay, the bed, thanks to you, is warmer so prefer that one. But if you kick me out, my revenge is going to be bad, really."

"Yeah yeah, hurry up, I want to finally sleep again and besides, you already threatened me with revenge and nothing happened." Kagami teased.

"Don't worry Kagamin~, I haven't forgotten. I'm just waiting for a perfect opportunity. I don't want to waste it!"

"Sure, I'm looking forward to it. Now shut up and sleep or I will shut you up. How often do I have to repeat myself?!"

"Okay, Kagami-sama."

"Don't stretch it." Kagami said while falling asleep.

…

The morning after. Kagami didn't kick her out anymore.

"A sleeping Kagamin~ is sure special. First she kicks me out of my bed and now she doesn't let me go." Konata said while trying to loosen the grip from Kagamis arm.

"See Konata, I didn't kick you out again." Kagami teased while slowly getting awake without realizing the situation yet again.

"Yeah, it's more like the opposite right now. You sure are warm."

"You too, wait what?"

"You're doing it again." Konata said. Kagami looked down and immediately stood up.

"W-Why is this always happening?" Kagami mumbled to herself or so she thought.

"Like I would know that. At least I admit that I want to hug you and you're going all secretive and stuff."

"S-Shut up. It's not like I'm doing this on purpose."

"You sure?"

"Y-Yes, of course I am. I would love to see what's happening when I'm sleeping." Konata started grinning after hearing Kagami say that.

"Well.." She started. "I could install a camera and we can check it out the day after."

"After thinking about it, I would rather not. Coming from you, I'm sure that this wouldn't end very well."

"You're still mean as always, Kagamin~." Konata pouted once more.

"I just have trust issues when it comes to you Konata."

"Like that's any better."

"With the games you normally prefer, I have every right for having them."

"Your insulting sure is top notch this early in the morning already." Konata said. "Besides, the whole scene is you fault. Maybe I should have trust issues, not that I dislike it..." Konata teased.

"I-I... shut up. We're getting late for school if we don't stop now." Changing topics was Kagamis favorite thing to do.

"Fine and now we're changing the topic again, huh? You're pretty hard to handle in the morning." Konata teased.

"And you're pretty hard to handle 24/7. You're a lot of trouble on a very small room."

"Oh, now is my height also into it? Well at least I can eat what I want and whenever I want." Konata was rather upset by now.

"Oi!" Kagami was also a bit angry. "Well, I guess we're both not really a morning person, huh? Let's go to school now."

"Okay, Kagami-sama." Konatas mood was easy to fix.

"Stop that!" Kagami hissed. However, both started laughing after a couple seconds.

"Good that nobody can see us."

"Yeah, but I guess we would be funny to watch, Kagamin~."

"More like embarrassing."

"Most of the time, that's the same, it just depends on the person and the point of view."

"Shut up."

And with that, their stupid little morning bantering was over and they got ready for school.

* * *

.

Konata sure doesn't have it easy but I'm also sure she wouldn't change any of it right now. Even though living with Kagami really is dangerous on various levels.

How long will it take Kagami to cause the first causality with her cooking? Her family will be involved next time so the chances are high but Konata should be the most cautious as she's prone to disaster caused be Kagami.


	9. Collateral damage

School had just ended and both were in a good mood again after the rough start in the morning. Konata found some more sleep in school, even though it was interrupted a few time by Kuroi-sensei. Kagami had simply forgotten about it because it wasn't anything special in the first place. It's totally normal when Konata is involved in something. The two were at Konatas home again and Kagami managed to force Konata to do their homework. Konata wasn't happy about it but she managed to copy most of it and so she wasn't 'that' upset about it in the end. The two moved to the battlefield called 'kitchen' afterwards.

"So Konata-sensei, what are we going to cook today?" Kagami was in a good mood.

"…" Konata remained silent.

"Konata-sensei?" Kagami continued.

"Kagamin~." Konata was a bit flustered. "Stop that… uhm, just stop that."

"Wow that worked better than I expected." Kagami giggled.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, absolutely nothing, Konata." Kagami calmed down. "What's today's agenda?"

"Yeah sure... Anyways, I think we have some chicken left. We could make some marinated skewered chicken. Only problem is that I have no idea with what." Konata was pretending to think and Kagami suddenly got an evil smile on her lips.

"Rice." Kagami said but Konata didn't moved an inch.

"Hmm… I have really no idea."

"Rice!" Kagami repeated herself.

"Man, it's so hard to find a side dish." Konata was completely ignoring Kagami.

"R-i-c-e!" Kagami was really persistent.

"Kagamin~, rice doesn't work with that." Konata tried to remain emotionless.

"We both know it works great with that. Rice works with everything! You're just afraid!" Kagami pouted.

"No I don't, I absolutely don't think that."

"You're even easier to read than Tsukasa."

"I don't know why but I somehow feel deeply insulted right now."

"Oi! That's my sister you're talking about there." Kagami hissed.

"So?" Konata asked.

"I uhm… I just wanted to mention it." Kagamis answer causing both to giggle.

"Still… what are going to cook now?" Konata asked, hoping the distraction had worked.

"Rice." Kagami said motionless.

"Damn."

"Did you really think I'm that easy to foul?"

"I have to try Kagamin~, I have to try." Konata mumbled.

"And you failed, as usual."

"You know it works every now and then."

"More than I want to admit actually." Kagami pouted.

"See?" Konata always found a silver lining somewhere.

"But not today, shorty." Kagami teased

"Hmpf." Konata pouted and Kagami tried not to laugh.

"Let's start now."

"Yeah yeah, chicken with noodles it was, right?"

"Konata! I'm starting to think of a new way to kill you."

"Hmm..." Konata actually started thinking about it.

"That wasn't an offer."

"Fine, I have to find my revenge first anyway."

"Sure sure, I'm still waiting for it."

"Kagamin~, waiting is part of the fun."

"Sure, now it's rice time."

"Great…" Konata mumbled. "But I have a condition! Or rather a few…"

"What is it?" Kagami asked.

"I'll do the actual cooking. Which means boiling the water, washing the rice and adding the right amount into the pot."

"And what's left for me then?"

"You'll watch the pot and pay attention so that it doesn't boil over and stir the rice occasionally plus taste if the rice is done."

"Fine." Kagami pouted. "You're almost treating me like a baby."

"Well I have to..."

"Well shut up."

Konata washed the rice and started to boil water in a pot. After it started boiling, she added a bit salt and the rice. After she closed the lid of the pot, Konata quickly started hiding behind the kitchen counter.

"You sure know how to make a big scene." Kagami said after she watched the play.

"I just know what is going to happen in the next few minutes." Konata mumbled.

"You're just adding points to my revenge depot with that behavior."

"The last penalty wasn't that bad, I would almost say fun so better think of something good."

"I will, better start your promised revenge soon so that I finally can do something."

"Kagamin~, something like that needs time and the perfect opportunity."

"You just don't have any ideas, right? That's your problem."

"That part of the time thing." Konata answered.

"See!" Kagami hit the nail on the head.

"Yeah yeah."

A little bit later. The catastrophe Konata feared was about to unfold itself.

"K-Konata uhm…" Kagami started panicking for some reason.

"What is it?"

"T-The rice is behaving weird." Kagami was looking at the pot who was moving wildly on its place like it was about to explode.

"Ahh!" Konata yelled as she rushed to the pot to take it off from the stove. But sadly for her, exactly in the moment she reached the pot, the rice boiled over and the boiling water splashed over her arm. "Ouch… that hurts pretty bad." She wailed while cooling her arm under cold water.

"I-I'm s-sorry K-Konata!" Kagami was about to tear up. "I-I didn't.."

"D-Don't worry Kagamin~, I know you didn't mean any harm. Is it even your fault in the first place?"

"Still..." Kagami felt really bad.

"It's okay!" Konata tried to calm her down. "But can you go to the living room and get the first aid kit. There's some ointment against burns in it, if I remember right."

"Sure, right away." Kagami instantly vanished out of the room and returned with the first aid kit.

Konata applied some of the ointment on her arm and then wrapped a bandage around it so that it doesn't stick anywhere.

"So…" Konata started, trying to comfort Kagami. "What about another pizza later today Kagamin~."

"K-Konata..." Kagami had a tear on her cheek. "I-I didn't want to hurt you…" Konata wanted to stop seeing her so sad and so she wanted to cheer her up in her very own way as she came near to Kagami and hugged her tightly. As usual, she instantly started blushing.

"Ah, this works every time." Konata teased. "I already told you it's fine, nothing bad happened."

"I still feel bad..." Kagami mumbled.

"If it makes you feel better, I can add it to my revenge account."

"Okay but be sure to make it really bad."

"You're going to regret that." Konata had already forgot about the accident and was at full force again.

"Like I said, I'm looking forward to it." Kagami started to loosen up.

"Feeling better now?"

"A bit… By the way, you can stop hugging me now."

"Ah, I see. Back to normal, that's great."

"Shut up Konata."

Later that day, after they ordered and ate the pizza, they were in Konatas room and heard the telephone downstairs.

"I wonder who that is."

"Probably your father." Kagami took a guess.

"Probably." Konata nodded.

Konata went downstairs and a couple moments Kagami heard something.

"EHH! Another weak? You're serious?" Konata yelled in the phone.

 _'_ _Oh, that doesn't sound so good.'_ Kagami was thinking. ' _I really don't really want her to be lonely again. I don't know was is going on but when I first came her a week ago, she looked like she was really sad about being alone. It also was pretty fun, well except the rice thing earlier... I wonder if I should ask mom if I can stay a little longer. I would feel pretty bad just to leave her, especially after I somewhat injured her just a while ago...'_

Meanwhile on the phone.

 **Sojiro:** I'm sorry for that, Konata.

 **Konata:** Why do you have to? What did happen?

 **Sojiro:** My editor has some more stuff to discuss with me and the other authors. Everyone here is pretty angry about that. I'm really missing my games.

 **Konata:** Ah, that's the reason why you're angry.

 **Sojiro:** No no, I miss you too!

 **Konata:** Too little, too late.

 **Sojiro:** NO! I really feel bad. I bet you're lonely.

 **Konata:** Actual no, not really…

 **Sojiro:** Really? Don't tell my you're not alone. If you have a boy there, I'll be home in 3 seconds!

 **Konata:** Calm down dad, no boy ever entered the house, well no one except the pizza guy.

 **Sojiro:** Why then? Normally you get pretty lonely if no one is near you.

 **Konata:** DAD! Don't say it like that. It's embarrassing.

 **Sojiro:** I'm sorry.

 **Konata:** Kagamin~ is here.

 **Sojiro:** Oh, that's nice. I hope you two are having fun.

 **Konata:** Yeah, we have. A lot actually, although it's a bit dangerous.

 **Sojiro:** That's good to hear. Wait, why dangerous.

 **Konata:** Well, *sigh* I accidentally promised her to give her cooking lessons.

 **Sojiro:** Didn't you tell me she is hopeless at that.

 **Konata:** That's the dangerous part in it. It's even worse than I imaged. It's worse than every anime I saw about that topic.

 **Sojiro:** Aw Konata, don't exaggerate it. It's not like she can make pots explode just by looking at them, right?

 **Konata:** *sigh*

 **Sojiro:** RIGHT?

 **Konata:** It actually happened twice already… Today was almost the third time.

 **Sojiro:** No way, you're kidding, right?

 **Konata:** I'm not.

 **Sojiro:** Wow.

 **Konata:** Yeah, a Tsundere who makes pots go boom. It's pretty interesting and fun I have to admit.

 **Sojiro:** And moe.

 **Konata:** DAD! Ehm well yeah, you have a point. Especially when we made pudding a couple days ago.

 **Sojiro:** What happened?

 **Konata:** Uhm... nothing... forget about that.

 **Sojiro:** Uh okay but it really sounds like you had a lot of fun.

 **Konata:** Yeah.

 **Sojiro:** Maybe you can ask her if she wants to stay a bit longer?

 **Konata:** Maybe… but she already stayed so long.

 **Sojiro:** Only one way to find out.

 **Konata:** Yeah, thanks dad but I may need some more money for food and stuff now.

 **Sojiro:** I placed some money in the top drawer of my desk in the case of this is happening. But only open the top drawer and nothing else!

 **Konata:** Sure dad, we made this rules together. Thanks.

 **Sojiro:** Make some photos if you want to thank me.

 **Konata:** DAD!

 _She hung up._

 **Sojiro:** Aww.

Konata went back to Kagami.

"I'm back." She said.

"Hey." Kagami answered. "Uhm... want me to stay some longer?"

"Y-You heard me?" Konata got a bit embarrassed.

"Only the part where your father has to stay a week longer."

"Oh, good." Konata sounded relieved.

"Why?"

"Nothing." Konata hurriedly said. "It would be cool if you could stay some longer. It was fun, _mostly_ but you already stayed so long..." Konata mumbled.

"I don't mind... that is if we keep up the cooking lessons."

"But NO rice in the near future!" Konata almost yelled her plea.

"Yes, no rice!" Kagami answered quickly.

"Then that's fine." Konata was relieved, for various reasons.

"Besides, even without cooking, I had some unexpected fun."

"I can swear I felt a little insult in there."

"Shut up." Kagami teased. "But I first have to ask my parents and I need to get some more clothes."

"We can go to your place now and ask. It's still early."

"Sounds like a plan."

Just as said, the two left Konatas house a little later.

….

Meanwhile at the Hiiragi home. Tsukasa and Miki were talking once more.

"When did Kagami want to come back again?" Tsukasa mother asked.

"Onee-chan said tomorrow." Tsukasa answered her.

"Ah, I see."

"But I wouldn't be surprised if she calls tomorrow and asks if she could stay longer."

"Why's that?"

"I'm not sure. The two seem to have a lot of fun. I don't think I've seen onee-chan ever this happy before."

"What do you mean, Tsukasa?" Miki asked.

"I don't really know. Onee-chan just seemed a bit uhm... reserved or something before we met Kona-chan. She got a lot more expressive after we started to hand out with Kona-chan."

"I think I get what you mean... But what has Konata to do with it?"

"Hmm… it's just since the day I introduced Kona-chan to onee-chan, they looked they were best friends from the second they met. The two are always arguing about everything but never had an actual fight. Kona-chan always makes some weird jokes and teases onee-chan but she doesn't really mind and sometimes she just teases back. And in the last weeks, they seem to get along even better."

"Interesting. Well, I don't really mind it if she wants to stay some longer if she has fun." Miki nodded.

…..

"Achoo…" Both Kagami and Konata sneezed.

"I bet Tsukasa is talking about us again." Konata joked.

"Sure, that's totally it." Kagami sarcastically answered.

"I was right last time."

"It's still just a coincidence."

"I bet it's pretty boring inside your head." Konata felt sorry for her.

"And I don't even want to know how it looks inside your head."

"It looks awesome!" Konata said before they reached Kagamis house.

"I'm back." Kagami said while entering the house.

"Oh, the lost child has come home!" Miki yelled from the living room.

"Very funny, mom."

"Oh Kona-chan is with you." Tsukasa saw the two entering the living room.

"Oh my, what happened to your arm Konata?" Miki asked after seeing the bandage. Kagami quickly looked away in shame.

"Well." Konata looked for the right words. "I got caught in a small rice accident." Tsukasa and Miki immediately looked at Kagami.

"Onee-chan..." Tsukasa sighed in disappointment.

"I-I…" She stuttered.

"I already told you it's okay so don't start that again." Konata calmed her down once more. "It's nothing bad you two. The bandage is just for the burn ointment beneath it. It was just some hot water." Konata said and the two sighed in relief.

"Kagami and cooking. I knew it wasn't a good idea." Miki teased which caused Konata to giggle.

"You two are pretty mean again." Kagami started sulking.

"Well..." Konata started. "I have to agree when it comes to rice but other than that, she made some notable progress."

"You don't have to make her feel better, Kona-chan." Tsukasa maybe is actually the meaner twin.

"Oi! That was really rude." Kagami hissed.

"It's true!" Konata interrupted. "I recently taught her how to cook miso soup and it actually worked."

"W-Wait!" Miki thought she misheard something right now. "You're telling me that you managed to teach my daughter, Kagami, a real dish?"

"I don't believe you, Kona-chan." Tsukasa wasn't much different.

"And you say my teasing is bad, Kagamin~."

"Yeah, I'm sorry for that." Kagami apologized before both started to laugh. Miki looked at the two and smiled. "And it's just soup…"

"Why are you here in the first place? I thought you were coming back tomorrow." Miki then asked.

"Konatas dad has to stay some longer away and so I wanted to ask if I can stay a bit longer at Konatas house."

"I see." Miki said and looked at Tsukasa who smiled as she laughed a bit.

"What's wrong?" Kagami asked.

"Mom and I were just talking about exactly that."

"Ha!" Konata yelled.

"What is it now, Konata?" Kagami asked.

"Just like I told you before. That can't be a coincidence. Remember the sneezing?"

"I… uhm... yeah. Shut up Konata, that doesn't mean anything."

"Sure."

"So, can I?" Kagami asked while getting back to the subject.

"Hmm." Miki was thinking. "Oh! I have an idea, show me your miso soup skills. If you can do what Konata said on your own, you can stay as long and often as you want at Konatas place. You can even move there if you want."

"Ehm…" Kagami wasn't sure what to answer.

"You know that you can do it." Konata encouraged her.

"Whatever, okay, I'll do it." Kagami said while standing up and going to the kitchen. Konata started to follow her a couple seconds later.

"I thought she can do it on her own Konata?" Miki stopped Konata after she saw her following Kagami.

"Yeah she can." Konata reaffirmed. "But Kagamin~ alone in a kitchen is still something I ,,."

"Oh, I get what you mean." Tsukasa nodded, so did Miki. Konata then proceeded to follow Kagami.

"See?" Tsukasa smiled at her mother.

"Yes, they're absolutely like best friends or something like that. It's nice to see Kagami this cheerful." Miki agreed.

"I also think Kona-chan is a bit different too, in a good way."

"You're right. The first time I saw her she seemed a bit weirder and even a little bit withdrawn or something like that. It's hard to describe." Miki added.

"I don't know about that but I had the feeling that Kona-chan is a bit like onee-chan. Maybe they're made for each other or something." She joked.

"Yeah maybe. Come, let's go and take a look. I want to see Kagami cooking." Miki said.

"I-I have rather mixed feelings about that." Tsukasa mumbled.

"Konata survived a week with her in the kitchen. I'm almost sure we can manage one evening."

"I'm scared."

"Me too Tsukasa, me too." Miki said while the two were going to the kitchen.

They walked in and saw Konata sitting on a chair at the kitchen counter while observing Kagami. Kagami had already collected all the ingredients and started preparing them.

"Wow, that's an interesting sight." Miki was amazed by seeing her daughter preparing the soup.

"Kona-chan, you are an alien after all, right?" Tsukasa jokingly asked, her voice however showed a hint of seriousness.

"Tsukasa, I don't think an alien would get burned by water from cooking rice like I did today."

"That's true." Tsukasa nodded. The three then continued starring at Kagami.

"Uhm guys, I can feel quite a big pressure on me. How about you guys act a bit more normal? I know it's hard for Tsukasa and practically impossible for Konata but I have faith in you, mom." Kagami said.

"Oh yeah, sure." All three said in unison but changed nothing and continued to stare.

Kagami finished the preparations and started cooking. She managed to finish it without any major incidents and served the soup in four bowls.

"Am I dreaming?" Miki asked while pinching herself in the cheek.

"Nope, totally real." Kagami was really proud at herself right now.

"A-And this is edible?" Tsukasa asked.

"Yes Tsukasa." Konata answered. "This time she used exactly the right amount of ingredients so the soup isn't too salty at all or something else what could make the soup taste bad. So it's good."

"How do you know that? You haven't even tasted it yourself." Miki asked and Kagami sighed in response.

"She has some amazing skills when it comes to that. Last time she knew exactly how much miso paste I used and she knew that it was too much. She even managed to reduce the saltiness with the exact amount of sugar before even tasting it." Kagami explained.

"T-That's amazing Kona-chan, how is this even possible?" Tsukasa asked.

"Simple, I was just watching Kagamin~."

"If that makes sense for you Kona-chan." Tsukasa scratched her chin. It didn't make sense for her.

"If she just could use this power in school, everything would be fine." Kagami sighed.

"That would be boring, Kagamin~." Konata said and then tried the soup. "See? It's good. Exactly like I said."

"Wow, you're right, it's quite good." Tsukasa nodded and looked like she was thinking hard.

"Thinking about the alien thing again, Tsukasa?" Konata could read the twins like a book most of the time.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't want to." Tsukasa answered and Konata laughed.

"Wow, Konata how did you manage to do that?" Miki couldn't believe it.

"How about someone praises me instead of Konata?" Kagami pouted.

"You did great, Kagamin~." Konata answered.

"I wasn't talking to you but thanks, besides your teaching methods were pretty awful." Kagami said.

"That's not nice, onee-chan. It clearly worked."

"Don't talk about nice over there Tsukasa. Konata did teach me exactly like Kuroi-sensei does in school."

"Oh... Kona-chan, that's horrible." Tsukasa quickly changed her mind.

Kagami and Tsukasa continued talking to each other, ignoring their mother and Konata. Miki then turned to Konata.

"So… how did you managed to pull that off?" Miki asked.

"I don't think I did anything special…" Konata scratcher her head.

"You had to!" Miki answered. "Do you know hard Tsukasa and I tried? We didn't manage to teach her one thing and here are you, who spent not even a week with her and she made a totally edible miso soup." Miki explained in complete disbelief.

"Hmm… I still don't think we did anything special. We just had some fun. Sure, I feared for my live sometimes especially the times we tried to make rice but else… I don't know. We constantly teased each other and stuff. We had some fights which were more fun than anything else, we played some games but that's just how Kagami and I work together. We just cooked together while I was showing her some basics every now and then. The miso soup suddenly worked almost on its own." Konata explained.

"I see, you two really seem to work great together."

"Yeah, somehow we do, I guess but I don't really know why though."

"If it works then you don't have to know why." Miki said.

"Yeah, that's true." Konata agreed.

"But still... teaching Kagami how to cook and be somewhat successful. You sure are amazing. How about you marry her?" Miki joked. "That would solve the problem."

"Sure." Konata answered without any serious thinking.

"Great, then she has someone who actually can teach her something."

"Ha, I bet it's just for the sake of your own kitchens safety." Konata knew what was going on.

"No, of course not! I'm just concerned about my daughters' future and happiness." Miki smiled at her.

"I know that smile well enough from Kagamin. I can totally see through that." Konata joked, both then looked at each other and started laughing after a second.

"Oi! I feel a great disturbance coming from you two. I have a bad feeling her." Kagami suddenly interjected. "I'm not sure if it's a good idea if you two become friends."

"It's too late for that." Miki patted Konata on the shoulder while saying so.

"Yeah, your mom is great, Kagamin~." Konata agreed. "And nice reference by the way. Not anime but still great."

"That's bad and shut up, Konata."

"See what I mean?" Konata asked while looking at Miki.

"Yep." Miki nodded.

"My live just got even harder." Kagami mumbled. "What were you two talking about?"

"Just about future and stuff like that." Konata answered.

"What? Mom, you got Konata to think about the future? Now who's the alien here. How?"

"A mother has her tricks." Miki giggled.

"Great help. So, what are the planes for the future, Konata?" Kagami got interested.

"Ehm…" Both Miki and Konata said. It was a bit complicated to say something now.

"Ah whatever, it's probably better if I don't know it."

"Yeah." Both eagerly agreed.

"These two are friends now... I don't know if I can handle that. Well whatever… I can stay a little longer at Konatas place then?"

"Uh... yeah sure, stay as long as you want." Miki had almost forgot about it already. "Take good care of her, Konata, I'm leaving her to you."

"Ehm..." Kagami looked confused. "Should I ask?"

"No, it's fine." Miki and Konata answered before laughing again.

"Fine." Kagami sighed.

"What are you two doing now? It's pretty late already. Maybe you should stay here today, Konata." Miki suggested.

"Sounds like a plan. Kagamins~ miso soup may be good but she sure is slow…" Konata looked at the time.

"Shut up. The 'good' part is the only thing that counts for me."

"Yep, that's more important thing anyway." Konata agreed.

"I know that much but yeah, it's a good idea to stay here. I'll finally have a comfortable bed to sleep in again." Kagami said while leaving the kitchen. "Yours is really bad for my back."

"You sure are hard to please Kagamin~." Konata complained while following behind her.

Miki and Tsukasa were just looking at the two who just leaved. It was the usual reaction for people when Konata and Kagami left the place.

"They sure have an interesting relationship." Miki said to Tsukasa.

"Yes, they're really good friends."

"It's nice to see the two having so much fun." Miki nodded.

"Yep. By the way, what were you two talking about?" Tsukasa asked.

"Nothing serious… I think. We had just some fun talking together and getting to know each other better."

"So you two are really friends now?"

"Sure, why not?" Miki answered. "Konata is an interesting and nice person."

"That's true. Kona-chan is cool, she's just a bit hard to understand, at least for me."

"Well if Kagami understands her it's fine, I guess."

"I'm not sure if onee-chan understands everything but she knows how to handle it or rather her." Tsukasa said.

…

Meanwhile in Kagamis room. Konata immediately jumped on Kagamis bed after entering.

"You sure make yourself at home fast, don't you?" Kagami asked as she looked at her.

"Yep, but you aren't that better." Konata teased.

"Well, it's not like I can't deny it but just shut up."

"Kagamin~… but yes, you're right!"

"With what?"

"Your bed is way more comfortable than mine." She admitted while borrowing her face in Kagamis pillow.

"You don't have to tell me that." Kagami said.

"But don't feel too confident. My new bed will go beyond your imagination." Konata announced while raising her fist like in a war declaration.

"Konata… not everything has to be some stupid contest."

"Oh? Feeling like you can't win? I see." Konata had fun.

"I'm just trying to tell you... ah whatever." Kagami gave up because it had no use.

"Just like I said." Konata answered with a victory pose.

"Yeah yeah. Besides, I also get something out of it."

"And what would that be?" Konata asked.

"The few times I slept in your bed, my back almost killed me every time the next day."

"I see, you want to continue using my bed, huh?" Konata teased.

"I-I shut up, Konata." Kagami mumbled and started to blush. "That's not what I meant. I didn't want to but it still happened because you forced me to stay awake too long."

"Kagamin~, you don't have to look for an excuse. I don't mind it at all in the first place."

"But I do!" Kagami hissed.

"Kagamiin~, your nightly hugging me tells a different story." Konata teased.

"S-Shut up already. I told you multiple time that it's not on purpose, just like the kicking thing."

"Ah right, the kicking. Maybe I should get a bigger bed with some additionally safety room."

"Ignoring me, I see." Kagami mumbled.

"Wait!" Konata suddenly said. "I don't have any clothes here."

"You sure are as random as ever."

"I have to keep things interesting."

"Yeah, you have a talent for that."

"Yep or else it gets boring and boring is well uhm... boring."

"Nice conclusion Konata, you're proud of that?" Kagami teased.

"It works so it's fine."

"Sure, whatever. Clothes, huh? I think I have some for you..."

"Kagamin~, I don't think I'm that..." Konata was stopped by Kagami.

"Konata, if you don't watch your next words now, I'm going to kick you out of this windows." Kagami pointed at the window in her room."

"...that tall." Konata finished.

"Nice save."

"Kagamin~, what were you thinking I was going to say?" Konata liked to live dangerously.

"Shut up. You know what."

"Kagamiiin~…"

"I said shut up."

"Alright, Kagami-sama."

"I can't wait to receive your mysterious revenge." Kagami sighed. "I have so much stuff for a new attack. It's getting hard to hold back."

"Oh right, the revenge."

"Don't tell me you forgot about that. Because if you have, I'm simply going for a new attack! Now!"

"No no, the revenge plan is working well, almost too well."

"You don't have anything don't you?" Kagami knew what was up.

"O-Of course I have. I'm the master of revenge after all. Your punishment is going to be epic." Konata said but wasn't even convincing herself.

"Sure Konata. You know what, I'll give you until the end of next week and if nothing happens, it's my turn again and if you manage to pull something off it's even more my turn."

"That's not fair, Kagamin~." Konata pouted. "I want to get a good revenge and nothing rushed."

"Konata not being able to pull off a revenge. Didn't see that one coming." Kagami hit a nerve.

"Oh, I can't let my reputation go down now." She got fired up again.

"Yeah, you and your precious otaku reputation. That would be a great loss for humanity."

"Yes, it totally would. Besides, you said my revenge has to be big because of the rice accident I didn't care about in the first place." Konata said while rising her bandaged arm.

"That's true but just do something spontaneous and be happy. Knowing you, it's going to be a back and forth anyway. Focus your big revenge on the next one and get over with it."

"If I wouldn't know it better, I would almost say you're looking forward to it, Kagamin~."

"I'm not, idiot!"

"That's all I need to know." Konata teased. "Maybe I'll find something on Tuesday that will help me."

"Whatever. Wait, what's happening on Tuesday?"

"The game we were talking about comes out then. Your memory sure is bad sometimes. We'll go to akiba then." Konata explained.

"Ah right, I see. Huh? Why _we_?"

"Because you're coming with me, that's why."

"And why should I?"

"Because it's more fun together."

"For you maybe, I just hate this place with all those nasty otaku guys." Kagami hissed.

"Don't be like that, Kagamin~. The alternative is you staying alone at my house. That doesn't sound like fun either, right?"

"That's true. Fine, I'm coming with you but if one of these guys touch me, I'm going to kill them and afterwards I'm going to kill you!"

"Kagamin~, if someone sees your tsundere rage there, you'll probably end up getting your own fan club in akiba."

"Eww, that's the last thing I want! Oi! What did I tell you about that tsundere thing?" Kagami yelled.

"Ah, I just love that reaction." Konata completely ignored her as so often.

"Geez, how can such a tiny person be so annoying?"

"Ey, I'm not tiny!" Konata pouted.

"Really?" Kagami teased. "So, what are you?"

"I-I'm just compact."

"Whatever works for you Konata, whatever works for you." Kagami answered while trying her best not to laugh, at least too hard.

"It's just like you said, I'm a lot of person… just compressed. Unfortunately, the compression worked too well."

"It's okay Konata, don't force it." Kagami started laughing.

"A really mean tsundere, I wonder what I did wrong in my previous life."

"Wrong religion, Konata."

"Hmm, I take what works in the moment."

"Yep, that's how you are."

"And I like me the best this was." Konata cheered.

"Yeah, that's pretty obvious."

"And I bet you like it the same way." Konata teased.

"I wouldn't bet my money on that. More importantly, shut up." Kagami answered and Konata giggled after hearing it.

"Sure Kagamin~, getting back to topic. You're coming with me, right?"

"Yeah yeah, I think I've said yes before, didn't I?"

"Not sure, I kind of forgot it." Konata scratched her head.

"And you said my memory is bad."

"You didn't sound very confident either a couple seconds ago."

"S-Shut up." Kagami turned red in embarrassment as she got caught.

"Somehow, every time we talk, I keep getting lost and confused somehow."

"Yeah me too, you're a pretty confusing person."

"So are you."

"Where were we again?" Kagami asked and both laughed for a second or two.

"Going together to akiba to buy the new game and maybe some manga."

"Hmm, I don't remember the second part."

"I just added it."

"Sounds like you."

"And I have to find something as a revenge there for you."

"I-In akiba?" Kagami was shocked and lost the color in her face.

"Sure, I bet I can find something there."

"I think I may have made a mistake with spurning you on earlier." Kagami mumbled.

"It's too late now."

"Yeah but remember, the harder your revenge gets the more I can and will do later."

"Don't worry Kagamin~, I can take a lot. Your last attack wasn't that hard in the first place. It was more surprising than everything else."

"Yeah yeah, your next punishment is going to be so hard that you can't walk for the next three days afterwards." Kagami said and Konata started coughing.

"Ehm..." Even Konata wasn't sure how to answer to that.

"S-Shut up Konata, I didn't say anything, just forget it. It sounded way better inside my head." Kagamis face became red again.

"Man, I would really like to take a look inside that head of yours. I would even pay an entrance fee for it."

"I don't think you could handle my brain." Kagami teased back.

"You're just getting me more curios." Konata said before jumping at Kagami and hugging her.

"You're not making anything better with this."

"Not that I intended that anyway."

"Well yeah, you're pretty obvious with that. Stop it now, I told you often enough."

"Yeah and I said I might stop hugging you if you stop blushing but judging your face, that's not today."

"S-Shut up, midget. A-At least let me breath a bit." Kagami mumbled.

"Fine." Konata loosened her grip a bit. "Happy now? And don't call me midget!"

"Not really but at least I won't suffocate now." Kagami answered. A little bit later Konata released her again.

"Aaaand I'm bored again… What now?" Konata asked.

"Well, it's quite late already."

"For you maybe." Konata wasn't agreeing with Kagami.

"Let me finish Konata, besides, you were pretty sleepy the last days as well."

"Because your _cooking_ exhausted me greatly."

"Shut up! Just let's get ready for bed and then watch some TV, maybe a movie or something like that."

"Fine, I can live with that."

Kagami looked for some clothes Konata can wear. She took the smallest she could find. She found a red t-shirt and some blue shorts, which didn't fit Kagami anymore since she entered middle school. They were still a bit too big for Konata but she decided not to tell her that little detail for various reasons.

"Well, I better not run in these but else, they should work."

"It's just for a night, it should be fine." Kagami added.

"But you probably shouldn't hug me this night like you usually do, Kagamin~. If you do this now, you may accidentally undress me because these clothes barely stay in the place where they belong right now without moving at all." Konata teased and Kagami turned red again but she had an idea after calming down.

"Hmm… that's true, maybe I should try to hold back today but I'm not sure if I can. You should probably sleep in a futon on the floor." Kagami tried to turn the sides.

"K-Kagamin~, what was that?" Konata stuttered. Kagami could swear she saw a hint of redness in Konatas face.

"Ha, that was great. I really start to understand your teasing sometimes." Kagami looked really smug right now.

"Wait, what?"

"How does you own medicine tastes?" Kagami asked.

"I've created a monster!" Konata shouted in an overly dramatic way as she fell down on her knees.

"Yep, totally your fault."

"But I think I can live with it."

"I can't say I wasn't expecting that, annoying girls are pretty easy to read."

"Yes, my job is so much harder. Tsundere are such a pain sometimes."

"I'm not a tsundere, idiot." Back to square one.

"But sometimes they are also pretty easy to read." Konata teased.

"Shut up."

"Okay, I'll try to keep it low for the rest of the day."

"You can keep it low for longer if you want."

"Nope." No hesitation whatsoever.

"Saw that one also coming. Let's watch a movie now." Kagami suggested.

"Fine."

"Just for your info, I was serious with the futon part earlier."

"Aww, Kagamin~..."

"Nope."

"…"

The two watched TV for some time after they found a movie and talked about random topics besides it and they went sleeping afterwards. Kagami had won in the end and Konata slept on the futon while she herself slept on her bed. Therefore, the night and the following morning didn't hold any surprises. The two more or less woke up at the same time in the morning.

"Aww, waking up alone sure is lonely." Konata teased.

"Shut up and get used to it."

"Ah yeah, I forgot. You aren't a morning person…"

"Nobody would be good with it with you being near." Kagami hissed.

"So mean, I bet you're just hungry."

"This has nothing to do with anything."

"That wasn't a no." Konata teased.

"I bet you are also hungry, I mean it's a new day after all."

"Probably not as much as you are but yeah, I could eat something."

"Just shut up."

"There's my little tsundere."

"Oh, I'm tiny, huh? So you're microscopic or what."

"Wow, we have to get you some food, quick. The monstrous tsundere is getting mad."

"Okay, tiny is fine." Kagami mumbled. "Now get rid of that tsundere thing and I'm happy."

They got up and went downstairs to the kitchen to eat some breakfast. Kagamis mother had already prepared something and so they hadn't make it on their own.

"Thanks for the breakfast." Kagami and Konata said to Miki after they finished eating.

"You're welcome." Miki answered. "Konata, aren't the clothes a bit big for you?"

"Well, yeah they are Kagamis clothes after all." Konata answered.

"Really? I don't remember Kagami wearing them."

"Because last time I wore them was at the beginning of middle school. They are way too small for me." Kagami said.

"I see." Miki answered and looked at Konata while smiling.

"I'm not sure if I should like that smile, Miki." Konata pouted.

"Don't worry Konata, you're cute the way you are." Miki added and Konata became a bit flustered.

"Uhm... thanks, I guess." Konata mumbled.

 _'_ _Wow, mom is good at things like that.'_ Kagami thought and giggled.

"What's wrong, Kagami?" Miki asked.

"N-Nothing, I was just thinking at something." She was caught.

"I see." Konata said. "Uhm… I have to go to the toilet. I'll waiting in your room later."

"Okay."

Konata left the kitchen.

"So, how is it going at Konatas place?" Miki asked.

"It's nice, I guess. I hadn't expected to actually have fun there. I mean you know how Konata is."

"Well, you told me about quite a bit. I have to admit that she's a bit odd but in a nice way and nothing like you described."

"That's partially true. She changed a lot recently. I don't really know why but she calmed down quite a bit, in her own way at least."

"I see, but that's good, I guess?"

"Absolutely." Konata being a bit easier to handle is always a good thing.

"And how's living without parents?" Miki then asked.

"It's interesting even though I would've probably just starved to death at this point without Konata." Kagami admitted in defeat.

"Hehe."

"But don't tell her that! I would never hear the end of that." Kagami almost shouted as she blushed a bit.

"Don't worry." Miki answered but almost started laughing. "But I think you should tell her, I'm sure she would like to hear it."

"But it's somehow nice, almost like a practice run for living on my own or rather with an overactive roommate in this case."

"That sounds nice but you keep staying here for a while, right?" Miki asked.

"Of course, not before college and even then I'm not sure."

"Oh yeah, you mentioned the college Yokohama before, didn't you?

"Yes, I would love to go to that college but it's hard to get into their law department."

"If someone manages to get in there then it's you." Miki cheered her up.

"Thanks mom." Kagami was grateful for the kind words.

"So what are you two doing all day long at Konatas house?" Miki asked. "I'm kind of interested in it."

"Nothing much really, we play some games together or just talk. We do our homework together although Konata needs quite a bit persuasion for that and we cook together, even though the cooking part is a bit messy sometimes."

"Yes, I have a pretty good idea why." Miki teased.

"Yeah yeah but I'm improving so tease as much as long as you can, mom."

"I know that. I hadn't expected that all you need is a good friend to learn cooking with your _skills_."

"Maybe it was just that Tsukasas and your _skills_ weren't the right one for me." Kagami teased back. "Well, Konatas methods are also highly questionable so I don't really know."

"I'm sure it has something to do with Konata."

"Maybe, though I don't know why."

"Perhaps you'll find out someday."

"Whatever, I better go upstairs to my room now. I can almost feel that Konata is doing something questionable up there."

"Sure, have fun."

Kagami went upstairs to her room where she found Konata and Tsukasa chatting together.

"Ah oneechan, good morning."

"Morning Tsukasa, how comes you're up already?" Kagami asked. It wasn't normal for Tsukasa to stand up before noon on weekends.

"Yuki-chan gave me a tip to set more than one alarm. The third one I set up actually rang and I got up." Tsukasa proudly explained.

"Are you sure you didn't just ignore the first two." Kagami sighed.

"Uhm, I can't answer that but I need your help oneechan." She quickly changed the topic.

"What is it?" Kagami asked but she already had a pretty solid idea.

"I haven't done my homework yet and I need help. I asked Yuki-chan like the last times but she's busy this weekend."

"I see."

"AHH, the homework! What should I do Kagamin~!" Konata suddenly screamed.

"First, calm down. Second, we already did them yesterday."

"Oh, right I forgot about that already. Don't startle me like that, Tsukasa!"

"I-I'm sorry Kona-chan." Tsukasa was equally startled.

"Don't worry sis, it isn't you fault." Kagami added. "Konata is just… well Konata."

"Can you help me then?"

"Yeah, but try it first on your own."

"Okay." Tsukasa agreed to the condition.

"And what should I do?" Konata asked.

"How about you also help?"

"Kagamin~?" Konata raised an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah right, I forgot who I was talking to." Kagami sighed.

"That was mean Kagamin~ but uhm true so think I can forget you."

"That's good to hear." Kagami remarked and Konata then looked at a shelf in Kagamis room.

"Oh, nice I left a manga here. At least I can kill some time now."

"But stay quiet."

"Yes, Kagami-sama."

"Shut up."

Konata concentrated on her manga and Kagami helped Tsukasa with her homework. She helped her on a lot more question than she had intended to do but she had lost her will to fight back and so she gave up. The three played some games and chatted about meaningless stuff the rest of day. Later, at afternoon, Konata and Kagami decided to go back to Konatas place. Kagami packed enough clothes and then they left.

"Hey, how about we stop here for some ramen. I don't think we really have much at home anyway." Konata said as the two were standing in front of a ramen shop.

"If you pay I'm in." Kagami tried her luck.

"Sure."

"Ehh?" Kagami was surprised. "You treat me?"

"Why not? My dad gave me enough money."

"Wow, thanks Konata."

"No problem, Kagamin~."

They went in and ordered some ramen. About half an hour afterwards, they reached Konatas home and went upstairs to her room.

"What are we going to for the rest of the day?" Konata asked after entering as she sat down on her bed. Kagami sat down beside her and looked through the room.

"Hmm... we finished our homework and we ate something. Did we finish your game from before?" Kagami asked after looking at the TV.

"Wow, Sunday evening and Kagamin asks me if I want to play a game and all of my homework is done. I think I landed in a parallel world or something like that." Konata looked serious. "No I think there are still some levels left." She said after she came back to the topic

"Good old Konata."

"Huh?" Konata asked.

"Nothing, let's play your game."

They played the game for some hours and finished it right before it was time for the bed, according to Kagami at least. With that, their weekend ended.

* * *

.

Before someone says something: I had absolutely no idea about Japanese rice back when I wrote this chapter except the part where you have to wash it first. I just copied the stuff I know from western Basmati. Japanese rice (probably Asian in general?) is actually something entirely different when it comes to taste, texture, preparation and whatever.

I'm also not a big fan of using Japanese words just whenever I fell about it (except things like honorifics) so I tried to use as much translated words as possible in the cooking recipes. Although when I think about it, everyone probably knows stuff like yakisoba, yakitori, wakame and whatever else I used or going to use in the next chapters. Heck, I even needed to google thing because I only knew the original Japanese word but not the translated one. Maybe I'll just stop translating every single thing and good is.

On a more interesting and less ranting note: Next Chapter is revenge time for Konata.

I also finally started working on chapter 16, which is the first non-prewritten chapter of this story, well it will be when we reach chapter 16 here but that's an entirely different story.


	10. Revenge!

The following day, Monday, was rather quiet. Konata tried to teach Kagami once more how to cook skewered chicken called yakitori because they were interrupted on Saturday. It went rather well and Kagami even managed to mix a rather good marinade for the meat after Konata explained what is needed and how much of each. Konata had to readjust the time proposed by Kagami to grill the chicken quite a bit though. Half-rare chicken is not a very good idea after all. Kagami made a mental note and promised to remember it next time. The night from Monday to Tuesday also was more or less _normal_ , for their standards at least. Konata had again left her bed in a rather unpleasant way in the middle of the night and in the morning, she once more ended up in a hug from the sleeping Kagami on her futon. Konata didn't really mind it. She decided that it is a rather good way to wake up, even if she doesn't know why and Kagami still didn't had an explanation for why it's happening in the first place. She let Konata have her way and stayed silent. Kagami still was embarrassed about it but she somehow started to care less about it. By now, it was Tuesday after school. The four, Konata, Kagami, Tsukasa and Miyuki had just left the school.

"Hey Yuki-chan, can I come to your house today?" Tsukasa asked.

"Yes Tsukasa-san, I'm free today. Do you two want to come too?" Miyuki looked at Konata and Kagami.

"I'm sorry but we're busy today, Miyuki." Kagami answered for both of them.

"Oh, what are you two doing today, onee-chan?"

"Kagamin~ and I are going to akiba today to buy a new game and I also have to find something for revenge." Konata answered.

"What game?"

"Konata and I were playing an older game last week which is getting a sequel today. Konata of course wanted to have it."

"Ah, I see." Tsukasa nodded as she got her answer.

"Wait!" Kagami shouted as she remembered something she almost missed. "You were serious with getting something for revenge there?"

"Sure, when was I ever not serious?"

"Ehm…" Kagami started. Konata had a point but at the same time, she didn't

"Don't answer that, Kagamin~."

"Well, I guess I earned that kind of revenge in the end."

"Yes, you do." Konata readily agreed with her. Miyuki and Tsukasa were relatively confused because both ha not idea what they were talking about.

"Ehm… what are you two talking about?" Miyuki finally asked Konata.

"That's a bit complicated."

"I see."

"Long story short, I did something last week and went a bit overboard and now Konata wants revenge for it." Kagami explained it to her.

"You did? Not Izumi-san?"

"Oi! That's unfair, Miyuki." Konata pouted.

"Yeah, well… Konata started it but I overdid it a bit in the heat of the moment or something like that."

"It was pretty funny and I certainly didn't see that coming." Konata said. "Well there is a lot more I didn't see coming the last week, especially on _that_ day. Crazy Kagamin~ is a good Kagamin~." Konata teased

"Shut up, they don't need to know."

"Aww, Kagamin~ is embarrassed."

"Want to go alone?" Kagami hissed.

"I'm sorry, o great Kagami-sama." Konata teased and Kagami just sighed.

"As long as you two are having fun." Miyuki said. _'They really are getting better friends day by day.'_

"I'm having fun that's for sure."

"I know you do…"

"You too, Kagamin~."

"Yeah whatever, just shut up." Kagami sighed once more.

"Ah, the cute little tsundere is strong today."

Miyuki and Tsukasa said goodbye at the station because the need to take a different train. Konata and Kagami were now standing in front of gamers, one of Konatas favorite shop in akiba.

"Man, I still don't want to go in this shop." Kagami strongly hesitated.

"It's too late now anyway." Konata answered as they entered.

"Yeah, just get your game and let's go home."

"Kagamin~, when I'm here already, I have to take a look around."

"I should've known..."

"Look Kagamin~, they have a ton of light novels now."

"Oh, you're right. Why?" Her eyes fell on the rather huge looking light novel section inside the store.

"A lot of anime nowadays are based on light novels. I guess a lot of people here are interested in the source material, not me though." Konata explained.

"Yeah, I know that you are too lazy to read light novels. Anyways, I think I'll go and take a look. Don't take too much time, Konata."

"Okay." Konata answered as they walked in different corners of the store.

"If one of these guys comes near me, they'll die." Kagami quietly mumbled after reaching the light novel area.

"Hmm… new manga releases are still lacking." Konata said after browsing through the shelfs of new releases. "I hope that changes soon. Wait, what is that? Cosplay costumes, huh? Since when do they sell them here?"

"Oh, Izumi-san!" A female clerk suddenly spoke up to her. "Glad to see you again. I already thought something happened."

"Oh, hey. Yeah, I was pretty busy over the last weeks. Besides, the new manga releases are pretty bad right now."

"That's true." The clerk nodded.

"By the way, when did you start selling cosplay costumes here?"

"About three weeks ago, more or less."

"Wow, I need to come more often again."

"We would be happy if you do so, speaking of which, your preordered game is already at the checkout, so feel free to take your time."

"Thanks, I will but I have a question first."

"Sure, I will help you with anything." The clerk slightly bowed.

"Do you see the girl at the light novel stand with the purple hair and the twintails?"

"Do you mean the angry looking tsundere?"

"Exactly!" Konata laughed at the description.

"Is she a friend?"

"Yes. What size do you think she needs for these costumes?" Konata had an idea and an evil smile on her lips as she asked.

"Why do you want to know that?" The clerk asked, as she was clearly confused.

"We're playing a little game and I just had the perfect idea when I found he outfits."

"Oh, I see. Hmm… I think the right size for your _friend_ would be... about this size." The clerk pointed at a costume for reference.

"Thanks. I'm coming later to pick up the game. This will take some time here."

"Take your time." The clerk bowed and left her alone.

"So… what do we have here? I see, they have the complete Haruhi collection. The school outfit, bunny girl, maid, waitress, cheerleader, miko and even the frog costume." Konata listed the costumes she was looking at. "Hmm… the frog costume is boring and the school outfit is no good either, that's more something for me. She already has a miko cosplay at home. The bunny girl would be epic but then she would kill me for real. I can't handle that much tsundere rage at this point. Note to myself, I need more training. The rest is also somewhat nice, Kagami as my ehm... a maid has something but that's all too much, at least for the first revenge. I think I'll have to save the Haruhi collection for later." Konata said after walking to the other costumes. "Wait, what's that?" She instantly stopped in her tracks when she something extremely interesting. "That could be nice." Konata looked at Kagami who was completely immersed in the light novels. She looked at her figure and then at twintails. "No, not nice. That would be absolutely perfect! Well okay, the hair color is wrong but I can live with that." Konata cheerfully picked a set with the size the clerk said earlier and went to the checkout.

"Oh, I see you found something." Said female clerk was sitting at the checkout now.

"Yeah, I think that's perfect." Konata giggled. The clerk looked at the cosplay set then at Kagami and lastly back to Konata who was smiling broadly.

"Yes, I can definitely see the resemblance."

"Right? This is going to be super." Konata was beyond happy already.

"I hope you two have fun tonight."

"I'm sure with that."

Konata payed and the clerk stowed the game and the costume in a rather large bag. Shortly after that Kagami, showed up at the checkout.

"Finally done, huh?" Konata just couldn't help it.

"Shut up."

"Oh, you found something, Kagamin~?"

"Yeah this book looks pretty good. What about you?"

"Yes I have everything I want, even more in fact."

"Uhm okay." Kagami tilted her head at the ambiguous sounding answer.

Kagami paid for the book and both left the store.

"So the visit wasn't for nothing, huh Kagamin~?"

"Yeah yeah, by the way, why was the clerk smiling so hard at us?" Kagami asked.

"I have absolutely no idea." Konata quickly answered.

"What are you up to, Konata? You know you can't fool me."

"Kagamin~, don't always be so negative."

"Fine. So, what is in this huge bag?" Kagami at the bag Konata was holding.

"Uhm... the game?"

"And? You don't need a bag this size for just a game."

"Kagamin~, it's a limited special edition, it's bigger and they didn't have any smaller bags right now." Konata tried her best to find an excuse.

"I see, so to summarize, you don't want to tell me, right."

"Right! Wait…" Konata turned silent.

"Ha!" Kagami was happy with herself right now. "So you in fact found something for the revenge in this store?" Kagamis voice sounded a bit worried but Konata didn't answer. She just started walking faster. "Wait Konata."

"I'm hungry, Kagamin~." Konata said after they covered quite a bit of distance.

"Nice way to change the subject. Ah, whatever, I'm hungry too."

"…" Konata was struggling on whether to say something or not.

"If you make one remark, I'm going to steal that bag."

"Where do you want to eat? The cake buffet of this shop is pretty good, although not even close to the one we were last time."

"Hmm..." Kagami mumbled. "I'm not really interested in sweets right now. I'm more up for some real food."

"WHAAT?" Konata was shocked. "Are you sick or something? You really don't want sweets?"

"Konata..." Kagami sighed. "You're on really thin ice right now. You should better watch out or it's your last day." Kagami quietly warned and Konata just gulped.

"How about this?" Konata quickly changed the subject in the moment they walked past a random restaurant. She didn't even check what food they served because she was panicking a bit. "It's my treat again." Konata added. _'Today is probably my last day anyway.'_

"Now that's a good apology." Kagami teased.

The two went inside, ate something and went on their way home afterwards.

 _'_ _So, now I have something for revenge.'_ Konata was thinking inside the train. ' _But how can I do it? Simply saying 'Here wear that' isn't going to work and I also can't make her wear with force. That would end badly, for me that is. Damn, I should've thought about something before. No, the outfit is too god to let it not happen. Maybe I …"_ Konatas thoughts suddenly were interrupted by a voice.

"Konata? Konata!" Kagami yelled.

"Oh, sorry Kagamin~, I was just thinking about something."

"You were thinking about something? That's bad." Kagami teased. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing serious."

"I bet it was something anime related." Kagami joked.

"Not quite but similar."

"Ha, I'm good."

"Yeah yeah, oh look our station is close."

…

Kagami and Konata were sitting in her room by now.

"Do you finally want me to tell what's in the bag now, besides the game?" Kagamis gaze was fixed on the bag the entire time.

"Nope."

"Fine, I have the bad feeling that I'm going to see it sooner later than anyway." Kagami sighed.

"Let's start the new game. I heard its super long so we have a lot to do."

"Yeah sure, why not."

"Yay." Konata cheered as she opened the game, inserted the disk in her console and started it and the TV. A little bit later, the two were at the character creation screen.

"Wow… so many options. It looks like we're going to need an hour or so just for creating a character." Kagami said.

"Yeah, looks like it. The online game I'm playing with Kuroi-sensei was even worse. I think I easily spent an entire night just for my character."

"Your commitment for stuff you like is pretty high." Kagami sighed.

"Yep, that's why I have no time for school."

"No you have no time for school because you don't want to have time for school."

"Kagamin~, stop with this useless nitpicking."

"Like you're one to talk."

Just as Kagami said before, the character creation took over an hour for them to finish. Both had created a character, which looked almost like themselves. Except for some 'small' details, no one dared to talk about.

"Wow that was complex. I hope the rest of the game is similar." Konata said.

"Yeah, but I feel like I need a break already."

"Really? We haven't even started yet…" Konata started pouting.

"I want to read a bit more of the novel I bought."

"Fine. Well, if we take a break I also can prepare the bath beforehand."

"Sounds good, you can go first." Kagami added.

"Kagamin~, you're the guest, you go first."

"And the guest said you go first so go." Kagami answered and her eyes were looking at Konatas bag on the floor again.

"Hmm, now I'm confused..."

"Just go."

"How about we go toge..." Konata started.

"No."

"But..."

"No."

"That's..."

"No." Kagami repeated again. "Go."

"Okay." Konata took some clothes and left the room but before she did that, she grabbed the bag on the floor and took it with her.

"Damn." Kagami mumbled.

"Ha, I may be stupid but I'm not that easy to fool." Konata teased.

"I at least had to try."

"Bad Kagamin~, bad."

"I'm not a dog."

"Hmm… What could you be then?"

"S-Shut up and go." Kagami started blushing a bit and hid her face in the book.

"Fine Kagami-sama."

Konata went in the bath and 20 minutes later, she returned to her room wearing her usual shorts and t-shirt, which she used as pajamas. Kagami was laying on Konatas bed and still reading her new light novel.

"Kagamin~." Nothing. "Kagami!" Nothing. "KAGAMI-SAMA!" Konata yelled. Kagami was completely immersed in her book. "Anyone in there?" Konata asked while she nudged Kagamis arm.

"Oh s-sorry, I was a bit distracted. And don't call me Kagami-sama."

"Wait, you were this out of it but still managed to get that, wow…"

"I wasn't that distracted." Kagami hissed.

"Sure." Konata rolled her eyes. "The book is that good, huh?"

"Yeah it's great, want to try?"

"Ehm no thanks, too many words."

"Figured as much."

"By the way, the bath is free." Konata said.

"Thanks." Kagami stood up and went to the bathroom but her mind was still fixed on her book and so she totally forgot to take some clothes with her. Unfortunately for Konata, she also missed this

"Man, how can I get Kagami to wear it?" Konata loudly was debating with herself in her room. "It can't be that hard. Maybe I should just hide every piece clothing she has… No that wouldn't work." While Konata was thinking hard, she suddenly heard something.

"K-Konata?" Kagami yelled from the bathroom.

"Yeah?"

"I uhm... kind of forgot... to bring clothes inside." Kagami muttered. Konata could almost see her blushing trough the wall.

"So?" Konata teased.

"S-So? Do I really have to say it?" Kagami made a short break to calm down. "Can you bring me some of my clothes and put them in front of the door."

"…" Konata stayed silent.

"K-Konata? It's already embarrassing enough!" Kagami yelled.

"…Oh yeah, give me two minutes."

"Thanks."

"Wow, someone up there obviously likes me." Konatas prayers were answered. "That's perfect! I'm so sorry Kagamin~, it's getting a bit more embarrassing for you in a couple minutes. Konata grabbed the bag with the cosplay and was about to leave. "Hmm… maybe I should add some underwear. I mean the skirt of the outfit has many redeeming features but long is not on that list. I guess my survival chances without underwear are under 3.43%." Konata grabbed some random underwear out of Kagamis back and stuffed it at the bottom of the bag from gamers where the cosplay was in, placed it in front of the bathroom door and knocked. "Here." She said before returning to her room.

"Thank you." Kagami said with sincere words from the other side of the door.

"Great, now I feel almost bad. Good thing it's only almost." Konata giggled. "Wait! I need a camera, now!"

Konata ran back to her room and quickly fished a camera out of her desk drawer. A couple moments later, she finally heard the long awaited scream.

"KONATA!"

"Yes?" Konata acted as nothing happened.

"What is this?" Kagami was furious.

"Revenge." Konata bluntly answered.

"…" Kagami was dumbfounded.

"Good, isn't it?"

"Konata!" Kagami went back to rage. "I'm not going to wear this!"

"Fine!" Konata loudly answered.

"Fine?" Kagami asked. "So I don't have to wear it?"

"Not really but..." Konata stopped mid-sentence to build up tension.

"But?"

"Think of the alternative, it's either my revenge _or_ you come out naked. I can live with both." Konata teased.

"…" Kagami was speechless again.

"So?" Konata slyly asked.

"Shut up, you idiot." Kagami yelled in pure anger. "That's your death."

"I'm looking forward to it, Kagamin~." Konata answered happily, although a little hint of fear was also present in her voice.

Kagami stood in the doorframe about 10 minutes later. Her face was completely red due to the embarrassment. Kagami was wearing the complete cosplay outfit. She looked like the spitting image of the vocaloid Hatsune Miku. Her hair was tied into her usual twintails but this time she was wearing some black and magenta colored ribbons. She even had a fake black headset on her head. Additionally, she was wearing a slightly greyish-white armless blouse combined with a long turquoise colored tie and a rather short black which also had turquoise highlights. Furthermore, she was wearing black boots, with the same turquoise highlights, that reached all the way up to her thighs. She was also had some black and turquoise arm sleeves. The sleeves almost covered her complete upper arms. And lastly, the skirt and the sleeves were covered with text resembling a mix of music instruments and technical terms.

Konata was looking at Kagami with her mouth wide open. Her jaw almost touched the floor. She was speechless and just continued staring for a couple moments.

"K-Ka-Kagamin~..." Konata still couldn't find any words.

"What?" Kagami angrily asked.

"…" Konata didn't answerer. Instead, a bright white light blended Kagami and afterwards she saw Konata holding a camera.

"A-Are you insane?" Kagami yelled. "Delete that. NOW!"

"But Kagamin~, it looks way too good to not take a photo." Konata had a feeling she doesn't have a chance against Kagami at the same time, so she secretly copied the photo to the internal memory of the camera and carefully, without Kagami noticing, removed the memory card, which still had a copy of her and hid it inside her pocket.

"No, it's not." Kagami hissed. "It's embarrassing and nothing else."

"I like it and so I'll keep it."

"No you won't!"

"And what if I refuse?"

"I'm deleting it myself."

"Oh, I really want to see that." Konata provoked her even though she knew it was her end.

Kagami glared at Konata and moments later, she tackled her on the floor and sat down on her stomach. Konata started to struggle but Kagami just started tickling her again until Konata released the camera. Kagami quickly grabbed it and deleted the copy of her in the cosplay.

"Kagamin~, that's unfair." Konata started to struggle harder because she was still on top of her.

"Oh, really? It's totally your fault."

"My poor photo." Konata shed a tear of regret as she sniffed. Konata tried to fight her back as strong as possible but Kagami could easily defend her position. She grabbed Konatas wrists with both hands and pressed them down on the floor. Konata was even less able to move now. Due to their position, Kagamis face got pretty close to Konatas. She looked at Kagamis face and then at her cosplay outfit. The next reaction was rather unexpected. Konata faced turned visibly red and then she quickly turned her face to the side.

"What's wrong, Konata?" Kagami asked. _'Konatas blushing, huh? That's rare."_

"I… ehm… t-that's a rather embarrassing story." Konata stuttered.

"You and embarrassed?" Kagami said in disbelief. "I just have to hear that."

"Well, I once had a dream about the original Hatsune Miku." Konata started explaining. "The dream almost started exactly the same as…" Kagami was silent and she looked at the scene Konata gestured at, namely the scene the two were in now. She suddenly she blushing even harder than Konata. She immediately crawled off from Konata.

"B-But…" Kagami mumbled.

"And then she…" Konata was about to continue.

"W-Wait you don't have to tell me." Kagami already had a good idea.

"Okay." Konata was more than fine with it.

"B-But isn't this person a g-girl?" Kagami asked.

"Well... yeah, more or less but it's not that you can control your dreams, right?"

"That's true." Kagami nodded. "Besides, you dreaming about anime and manga stuff isn't that off."

"Yeah, but Miku isn't anime or manga related, she's a voc..."

"I don't really care what exactly she is, Konata."

"Fine." She pouted. "You're really no fun at all."

"I'm just not that interested in vocaloid and st…" Kagami stopped as she realized her mistake by looking Konata who was grinning widely.

"Kagamiiin~!" Konata immediately forgot about the slightly embarrassing from 10 seconds ago.

"S-Shut up, okay?"

"Ha! Okay fine." She did give her the favor to stay silent, for now.

"Thank you." Kagami sighed.

"But I never would've guessed that you actually like cosplay."

"W-What?"

"Well… just look at you." Konata looked up and down at Kagami once more.

"You stupid idiot forced me! That's why I look like that!"

"Sure but you know, you could've just worn the skirt and the blouse and you would be decent enough to leave the bath." Konata explained.

"I-I…" Kagami hadn't thought of that possibility just started blushing a bit in return.

"But no, you are wearing everything. The boots, the arm sleeves. Heck, you're even wearing the right ribbons and the headset." Konata continued her observation.

"B-But..." Kagami just started blushing harder as she was driven into a corner.

"To be exact, you didn't even have to wear it in the first place."

"Like hell I would come out naked." Anger replaced Kagamis embarrassment, at least shortly.

"You didn't have to. You could've just worn your underwear and a big towel wrapped around you. The way you acted before, it should be less embarrassing for you than the cosplay, right?" Konata finished her explanation.

"…" Anger was again replaced with embarrassment.

"K-Kagamin~?" Konata felt like she had missed something.

"U-Underwear?" Kagami quietly mumbled.

"W-What?" Even Konata was a bit shocked now. "I-I put some in the bag." She added for her own safety. Steam was raising from Kagamis head by now.

"I-I… excuse me for a second." Kagami said as she carefully stood up while pushing down her skirt and quickly left the room.

"S-Sure." Konata nodded. She was almost as embarrassed as Kagami. _'Wow… that maybe was a bit too much even it wasn't my fault. Good thing the subject didn't came up when she was still on top of me…'_

Kagami didn't need long to come back but she couldn't look Konata in the eyes right now.

"I guess it's because you're already used to cosplay." Konata said as Kagami sat down again.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why are you wearing the cosplay?" Konata decided to completely ignore the underwear accident and asked again.

"B-Because I didn't saw the u-underwear first. I had no choice, did I?"

"Okay, I can understand that. Then let me rephrase my question. Why are you wearing the complete set even including the headset?" Konata kept digging.

"I-I…"

"Kagamin~..." Konata had her.

"O-Okay fine." Kagami answered as she finally gave up. "I was a tiny bit curious, okay?"

"I can't believe it. My little tsundere actually likes cosplay and I was just teasing her before!" Konata had just achieved the greatest victory in her live.

"I-I... shut up already." Kagami yelled. "I never said I like it!"

"Are you sure, Kagamin~? Because you look really good in it!"

"Huh? T-Thanks…"

"See!" Konata teased. "Just admit it and get over it."

"Shut up, Konata." Kagami answered with her usual line. "But to be honest…"

"Yeah?"

"I-I really expected it to be more... uhm... embarrassing." Kagami mumbled. "I mean I almost died but…"

"That's probably because I thought really hard about the right one."

"That means?"

"Well, I obviously wanted to embarrass you but I didn't want to overdo it… for now at least. There were some really good cosplay sets but you probably just would've killed through the bathroom door."

"Like?" Kagami was still beyond embarrassed but she still was a bit curious.

"They had the entire Haruhi collection."

"And that means? Wait…" Kagami remembered the light novel series she red. "Y-You mean…"

"Yep, maid, waitress, nurse, frog costume, cheerleader, miko and bunny-girl." Konata listed the outfits and Kagamis face turned redder with almost every name. "They had them all."

"Even the frog costume, huh?" Kagami suddenly asked.

"Yeah, it's rather silly. I excluded it in my list and so I did with the miko costume because well… you already have one of those." Konata nodded. "Wait a bit... You're concerned about the frog costume in the list?"

"No no, don't mind me. I definitely would've killed you with the other outfits, I think." Kagami answered.

"I-I think?" Konata wasn't sure if she just had a heart attack. ' _Jackpot!'_ Her inner self cheered.

"N-No, that doesn't mean anything, anything at all." Kagami turned even redder.

"Sure Kagamin~." The sarcasm was strong in that answer.

"Can we stop it for now please? It's incredibly embarrassing."

"Okay, we can stop it _for now,_ Kagamin~." She was beyond happy with everything what had happened in the last hour.

"S-Shut up and don't think my revenge on you for that is going to be a light one."

"Wait, that attack from earlier wasn't?" She remembered the second pinning down and tickling earlier.

"Ha!" Kagami laughed heartily. "Not even close. At max it was a tiny little foretaste for what is coming."

"I… ehm... okay. Whatever, I feel like I won today too much anyway so hit me with everything ou have when you're ready."

"With pleasure but it may take some time."

"No problem, take your time. I have many cosplay sets to choose now. I don't need to think too long anymore." Konata teased. "You can have my extra time."

"…" Kagami was again at a loss for words again.

"So… how about we continue or rather start our game now." Konata said because she finally wanted to play the game and she wanted to change the subject because she got the feeling that it's going to end bad for her if she continued now.

"Oh yeah, sure." Kagami nodded. She had totally forgot about it over the incident.

Both sat down on Konatas bed and returned to the game, which was still at the character selection screen. The two selected their recently created characters and finally started.

"What do we have to do now? It looks quite a bit different than its sequel." Kagami said.

"It looks like it's some kind of an open world shooter RPG thing so I guess we first have to find a better weapon, I think." Konata answered.

"Well then let's go."

The two played the game for about an hour. Both killed some low level enemies and soon leveled up and found some good weapon to defeat the first, out of many, bosses. After some time, Kagami noticed that Konata was repeatedly glancing over to her with her usual grin.

"What is it?" Kagami was getting distracted because she didn't know why Konata was doing this.

"Nothing Kagamin~." Konata answered. "I'm a bit hungry. Want some snacks?"

"Sure." Kagami simply answered.

"What was I thinking?" Konata teased. "Like I have to ask Kagamin~ if she wants snacks." Konata quickly said before leaving the room.

"Oi! You stupid midget, want to die?" Kagami yelled after her. Konata just laughed loudly.

"I can't believe that she's still wearing the cosplay and is acting like nothing is wrong." Konata mumbled to herself as she was looking for some snacks downstairs.

"I wonder what was wrong with her." Kagami was talking to herself until she looked down. "Oh, I see." She started blushing. "I totally forgot what I was wearing. Konatas influence is destroying me from the inside, I guess. I can't even change now." Kagami continued. "She would just tease me to death if I would do that now. At least I got to delete that photo earlier so nobody has gets chance to see it." Kagami finished to monologue. _'Although… I wouldn't mind if I had a copy…'_ Kagami was thinking, shook her head and blushed a bit more.

"I found something!" Konata yelled as she entered the room. "Oh, what happened, Kagamin~?" She noticed Kagamis red face.

"N-Nothing, absolutely nothing."

"Kagamin~, you can't even fool this chocolate box I'm holding here." Konata teased. "Now, what's wrong?"

"Nothing important, I was just thinking about something stupid but it's already over so it's fine again." Kagami said, Konata just looked at and her cosplay It was enough for her to calm down and ignore the matter.

"Okay Kagamin~. Anyway, I found some snacks. I think it's even enough for you."

"Oi!" Kagami shouted. "Shut up! You really want to die, don't you?"

"Not really but uhm it's too hard to resist so I probably have to accept my fate." Konata answered.

"How about some restraint?"

"Nah, restraint is for weak people."

"Konata..." Kagami sighed. "I think you misunderstood something there."

"Kagamin~, don't come up with these useless details again." Konata teased and Kagami gave up and just sighed.

They continued the game for some time until Kagami simply felt asleep.

"Hmm, I guess we should stop for today." Konata said while she looked at Kagami sleeping beside her. "And still in cosplay..." She giggled. Konata turned the TV off, switched the light and pushed Kagami to one side of the bed so she had some place for herself. "As if I would sleep on the futon." She said before falling asleep as well.

…

The next morning.

"Hmm, I still don't know why but I really could get used to this sort of waking up. Though I really want to know why she is doing that. Maybe I should ask Tsukasa one day, I bet she has an answer." Konata quietly said while she was looking at Kagami who was again clinging to her while sleeping.

"What... are... you talking... about?" Kagami yawned as she slowly started waking up.

"Nothing, I was just thinking about something." Konata said. "Wait a minute…" Konatas face suddenly showed a complete different expression as her face turned a little red. "M-My dream..." Konata stuttered.

"Your dream?" Kagami asked.

"The dream about Miku... it ended more or less the same as with the situation right now."

"W-What?" Kagami looked at herself and how she was still wearing the Miku cosplay and holding Konata. "Ahem." She said as she quickly stood up. "I guess I can finally change."

"Kagamin~, you say 'finally' but you spent over 12 hours in it and 5 minutes was all I wanted and expected."

"S-Shut up idiot." Not it was Kagamis turn to blush.

"Besides, it loosely resembles a school uniform. I bet you could go to school like this."

"You would really like to see that, wouldn't you?"

"Of course I would, so?"

"You little otaku devil, no chance in hell." Kagami yelled.

"I somehow saw that coming." While Konata saw it coming, she still was a bit sad.

"I wonder why."

"Well I had enough, for now at least that is. Man, if I would tell my guild in my online game that I spent the night with Hatsune Miku and even shared the bed with her, I would be the king." Konata teased.

"W-What?" Kagami gasped. "No, you wouldn't be the king. You would be dead if you tell that anyone, dead as like 3m below the surface in a grave dead." Kagami shouted and Konata gulped.

"Kagamin~, of course I'm not going to tell anyone. It's our little secret that you like cosplay. Besides, no one would believe me anyway."

"Yeah, I'm too awesome to believe." Kagami teased. "Wait… I never... shut up."

"Yep, you definitely are. A cosplay loving tsundere with a moe side. You belong in a museum."

"S-Shut up… I get the urge to attack you again." Kagami hissed.

"Okay fine, you can go to the bathroom first. I have to check my PC first anyway. I haven't used that thing like a whole week or so."

"So I really am good for something, huh? Wait… if you post that from earlier somewhere…"

"Yeah Kagamin~. I'm not that stupid."

"I'm not so sure about that." Kagami said as she left the room.

Konata quickly rushed to the computer, turned it on and inserted the memory card from her camera, which she had hidden yesterday.

"Yes, the photo is still there!" Konata grinned.

She copied the photo to the PC, made multiple copies and hid it different folders all over her hard drive. In this case, even if Kagami insists on deleting the other copies, she would never find every copy. At last, she did send an e-mail with the photo to her phone and left the PC again. Later, after breakfast, the two girls went to school.

….

Lunchtime at the school.

Konata, Tsukasa and Miyuki were chatting until Kagami entered the classroom and sat down on the table where the other three girls were sitting und greeted them. Konata looked at her und shook her head.

"What is it now?" Kagami hissed at Konata.

"Nope, as expected, it's no good after all, your other outfit definitely was better." Konata answered.

"Shut up, I told you it's not happening."

"I know, I just said it was better, nothing more."

"Sure."

"What other outfit, oneechan?" Tsukasa asked.

"Nothing Tsukasa, Konata is just talking random stuff as usual."

"But..."

"Stay silent, Konata!" Kagami warned Konata once more.

"Okay."

"Oh Izumi-san, did you get your new game you were talking about yesterday?" Miyuki suddenly asked.

"New game…game... game..." Konata scratched her chin as she tried to remember.

"Kona-chan, you told us yesterday you and onee-chan were going to your anime shop to buy a new game didn't you?" Tsukasa added.

"Ah yeah, right. Sorry, I had more than one game running yesterday so I was a bit confused." The cosplay incident left a way bigger impact on that day.

"Oh, what other game did you play?" Miyuki asked.

"Uhm..." Konata started. "Well… it involved Kagamin~ and I promised her not to tell anyone outside my home so I better stay silent or I'll die." Konata nervously added.

"Wow, I didn't expect you to hold it in. Good for you." Kagamis tone send a chill down her spine.

"See? I'm not that stupid. Just like I said, Miyuki."

"Yeah yeah."

"I see." Miyuki nodded. _'I'm even more curios now...'_

"But now that we're talking about…" Konata started and pulled her phone out and pressed some buttons.

"Wow, you actually brought your phone for once, I'm impressed."

"It's important today, Kagamin~. Check your mail, I send you something from yesterday."

"Oh, I want to see it too, onee-chan." Tsukasa added while she was leaning towards her sister.

"Ehm... Tsukasa, I really don't think Kagamin~ wants you to see it." Konata had a bad feeling about it.

"I don't have any secrets towards my sister." Kagami hissed.

"Kagamin~, just trust me, okay?"

"Fine." Kagami looked at her sister and she turned back. She opened her mail and saw the photo and instantly turned beet red.

"See? You probably don't want that Tsukasa see it, right?"

"K-K-Konata..." Kagami stuttered.

"Wow, I know you wanted the photo but I didn't expect you to be this happy."

"I-I... how?" Kagami was completely shocked. _'How did she know that I somehow wanted the photo? Was I that obvious? Wait… that's not the issue here!'_ She thought.

"Kagamin~, did you think I just give up just because you attacked me and pinned me on the floor? I already copied the photo and removed the memory card from the camera before we two even hit the floor." Konata bragged and made a small victory pose.

"Kagami-san tackled you down?" Miyuki suddenly asked.

"Yeah." Konata nodded. "To be precise, that wasn't even the first time..."

"You two really look like you have a lot of fun." Tsukasa was a little envious.

"Kagamin~ sure is interesting." Konata teased.

"You! You little… argh, I don't even find a word for it." Kagami was starting to loose it.

"Kagamin~, don't be upset, nobody is going to see it."

"Yes, mainly because we're going to delete it once we're at your house!"

"I don't think so. I made so many copies and hide them in so many different places… you're never going to find every copy. Besides..." Konata stopped.

"Besides?" Kagami gulped.

"If you're going to, I just have to press one button and Tsukasa sees it."

"Yes, I want to see it!" Tsukasa interrupted.

"No."

"Besides, Kagamin~, it would be unfair if you can keep the photo and I don't."

"Who said I'm not deleting it and who said I want it in the first place?" Kagami asked.

"Your face." Konata bluntly said which caused Kagami to blush even more.

"I-I just shut up."

"Kagamin~."

"F-Fine, we can keep it. BUT if someone else besides us sees it, I'm going to make my promise from yesterday true." Kagami answered with a serious and serious side. Konata turned a bit pale.

"Ehmm." Miyuki tried to change the subject despite the fact she wanted to know what is going on. "Are you free today? It feels like we sort of split, you two are always doing something and Tsukasa-san and I are doing something."

"That's true." Tsukasa hastily nodded. "I want to do something as the whole group together again."

"Hmm, we wanted to continue the game but not until evening..."

"And do our homework!" Kagami added causing Konata to sigh.

"Yeah yeah, I have the feeling that would happen... I guess I have to cooperate today."

"You should cooperate on this subject every day." Kagami angrily stared at her.

"Except these two things we are free, I guess. What do you want to do, Miyuki?"

"Well, normally you're the one who comes up with the ideas, Izumi-san." Miyuki said.

"Miyuki!" Kagami gasped. "You can't just give Konata a permission to choose an activity."

"Kagamin~, I feel insulted." Konata pouted. "You said it yourself that I had some decent ideas."

"Fine, you're kind of right. So, what's the plan?"

"Hmm... Oh, I have an idea! We totally forgot to take Miyuki and Tsukasa to the cake buffet I found two weeks or so ago."

"Oh, right, now that you mention it. And it was so awesome…" Kagami nodded.

"Cake buffet it is." Konata concluded.

"Sounds great Izumi-san and I didn't need to go to a dentist for a while so it should be fine."

"Ehm Miyuki… a cake buffet may be not… a whatever."

"Yay!" Tsukasa cheered and ended their discussion.

* * *

.

I totally forgot about the Lucky Star OVA when I wrote the chapter. Kind of a missed opportunity here to be more creative but… well Miku Kagami is always nice.

I kind of want my own Kagami at home but I guess that's a no for various reasons.

I also got a little (or medium) depressed while rereading and preparing the chapter for release… I'm currently still working on chapter 16. (looks like it's going to be a long one.) Due to it being a new chapter two years later after I temporary stopped this story, my writing style in ch.16 (and onwards) greatly changed. It more or less means far less actual dialogue and way more descriptive writing. Especially the latter is missing quite a bit right now. I thought of rewriting the upcoming chapters until I catch up but it's a bit much work, especially because there are some pretty long chapters coming. I think it's better to catch up as quick as possible and make a clean cut, although I think it gets at least a little better if I remember right (or not… I should better reread them again…). Please try to bear with it until then. It's only 30-35k more words until ch.16...

It's also quite confusing to edit one chapter and work on another way in the future because, without spoiling too much, after one or two 'progress-chapters', their relationship changed quite a bit.

Man, ranting feels good.

Next time: Cakes, cooking, teasing and misunderstandings.


	11. Misunderstanding

The four girls met outside of the school after it had ended. They boarded the bus towards the station and all took the train towards Konatas house there because the cake buffet was only one station away from it.

"Do we have to walk far, Kona-chan?" Tsukasa asked as they exited the train.

"No, it's right outside the station." Kagami answered before Konata had the chance.

"Oh, that's convenient." Miyuki added.

"That's true, mainly because I would've never found that awesome place if it wasn't next to the station." Konata explained.

"Again, you shouldn't have missed your station in the first place." Kagami hissed.

"Kagamin~, it was a good thing, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, it's a really good cake buffet." Kagami stopped for a second. "But you still shouldn't have missed your stop."

"Not this again, Kagamin~…"

"But I can't believe it's as good as you two described it." Tsukasa said.

"Just trust us, Tsukasa." Konata said. "And there we are." She added as the four stopped in front of the café.

"It certainly looks nice." Miyuki nodded as they entered.

A waitress led them to free table and explained the rules.

"No time limit, that's great! Last time wasn't that nice when we had to hurry at the end." Tsukasa quivered as she also remembered the event where Kagami, Konata and she went to another cake buffet and had to stuff like 30 cake pieces in the last 3 minutes inside them.

"You two can go first." Konata said. "Kagamin~ and I already know it after all. It's right behind the corner over there."

"Thank you Kona-chan, let's go Yuki-chan." Tsukasa happily agreed as she dragged Miyuki towards to buffet.

Konata and Kagami heard a loud gasp shortly after leaving coming from the buffet.

"I guess Tsukasa found it." Kagami sighed.

"Yep, looks like it."

Later, a cheerful Tsukasa came back to the table followed by Miyuki. Tsukasa war carrying a mountain of cakes on her table, Miyuki on the other hand settled a normal amount.

"Hungry huh, Tsukasa?" Konata asked.

"I uhm just couldn't decide, so I took one of every different looking thing."

"Oh yeah I can understand that. I still have a lot of cakes left I have to try." Konata added. "Let's go, Kagamin~."

"Sure." Kagami answered and the two also left for the buffet.

….

"So many cakes…" Konata shook her head as she came back to the table, she had carefully chosen cakes she missed last time and Kagami picked her favorites from last time.

"Yeah." Kagami nodded. "I think there are even more than last time."

"I think I can never try every cake if they keep adding stuff." Konata sighed. "It's not like they were lacking cakes in the first place.

"There is no such thing as too much cake." Kagami said but soon realized her mistake.

"Kagamin~."

"Yeah yeah, shut up, I don't want to hear it." Kagami hissed and started blushing.

"But this place is really nice, I'm glad you found it Izumi-san." Miyuki said.

"Yeah, so many cakes." Tsukasa added. "And all are delicious. I have to try to make some of them at home."

"You better call us when you do." Konata said. "I bet Kagami won't miss that."

"Oi! Don't stretch it." Kagami yelled.

"But don't forget about your cookies in the process, Tsukasa! They're world class after all. I can't live without them."

"Sure, cookies are my favorite too, Kona-chan."

"Don't reduce my sister to sweets, Konata."

"Oh, so you don't like her cookies?"

"That's not what I said and you know that." Kagami answered.

"Oh, I have an idea!" Konata suddenly yelled.

"Random as ever." Kagami sighed.

"We're close to my house, let's all go there and do that stupid homework thing at my home."

"Sounds good." Both Miyuki and Tsukasa agreed to the proposal.

"Konata…" Kagami saw through her. "You just want to copy your homework faster, don't you?"

"Fine." Konata pouted. "I'm sorry Tsukasa and Miyuki, Kagami doesn't want you to come."

"You're pretty aggressive today, Konata… I think I have to find a way to shut you up."

"Do your worst." Konata teased.

"Of course you two can come." Kagami said to Tsukasa and Miyuki. "But Konata, you know what happens if you just copy, right?" She glared at Konata.

"Oh yeah, tsundere rage. I'm fine with it, although the floor is pretty hard…"

"Shut up and I'm not a tsundere!" Kagami hissed. Miyuki just look at the two as usual and Tsukasa was still busy with her cakes.

After they finished the cakey, they left the café and went to Konatas house

…

"You can go upstairs firs. I'll get something to drink and come then." Konata said.

"I'll help you." Kagami decided to stay.

"Thanks." Miyuki and Tsukasa said and slowly started walking towards Konatas room.

3.65 seconds later.

"Oh-oh." Konata suddenly turned pale and sounded pretty worried.

"What is it?" Kagami asked.

"I-I think I left the computer on this morning, it should still show the photo on the screen."

"N-No way!" Kagami yelled. "Oh n-now that you mention it, I-I think I left the cosplay on the bed." Kagami also turned pale.

"If I were you, I would hurry now…" Konata gestured towards the stairs.

"Y-Yeah." Kagami said and sprinted upstairs, only leaving afterimages behind.

"Wow, I didn't know Kagami can run this fast…"

Miyuki and Tsukasa just looked dumbfounded at each other as Kagami passed them and closed Konatas door right before their noses.

"What was that?" Miyuki asked while adjusting her glasses.

"I-I don't know but onee-chan looked pretty panicked."

"J-Just give me a minute." Kagami shouted from the other side of the door.

"Take your time." Konata answered as she walked up the stairs while carrying a tablet with glasses and some tee. "We uhm… just forgot something in the morning." Konata said to the other two.

"Oh, what is it?" Tsukasa asked.

"Nothing, absolutely nothing." Kagami said as she opened the door.

"Good job, Kagamin~!" Konata said while walking in. The PC was off and the cosplay wasn't on the bed anymore. "Even though I don't care." She teased.

"Oh yes and how you care. You know what happens if some sees it, right?" Kagami warned.

"B-But Kagamin~, it wasn't my fault." Konata argued back.

"First Konata I don't care about that and second, the PC surely would be you fault."

"O-Okay." Konata mumbled. "Well, you were faster so it's all good."

"I guess you won't tell us what you're talking about, right?" Miyuki suddenly asked. ' _They're pretty secretive about what happened yesterday, at least Kagami-san is. Suspicious.'_ She thought.

"Nope." Kagami bluntly answered.

"I would but I can't so I won't" Konata added.

The four sat down on the table in Konatas room and started their homework. Tsukasa quickly fell asleep because she couldn't manage to keep her brain focused. Due to the constant nagging by Kagami the last weeks, Konata actually managed to do a lot of her own. Her protesting didn't stop at all, though.

"Kagamin~, can you help me with this?" Konata pointed at something in her textbook. "I don't get it all."

"Fine." Kagami sighed. "I'm impressed you managed this much in the first place, I guess it can't be helped then."

"It's not like I had a choice." Konata pouted.

"It's good for your future and thus, stay silent."

"I'm really not sure how I need something like this later in my live." Konata pointed at a rather larger question in her math homework.

"You will never know, Konata."

"Yeah yeah." Konata just brushed it off.

"You two sure are influencing each other pretty well." Tsukasa giggled. She was awake, more or less, for a while now again.

"What do you mean, sis?" Kagami didn't understand what she said.

"I mean you actually got Kona-chan to try her homework, which is pretty impressive and furthermore, she managed to teach you some cooking skills and that's beyond amazing." She explained. "I don't think any other person would be able to do that."

"Not this again Tsukasa." She replied.

"By the way, Kagamin~." Konata whispered in Kagamis ear. "Where did you hide it?"

"Why do you want to know?" Kagami whispered back. "Argh, I don't want to know. I just hung it in your wardrobe." She said a quietly as possible. However, Miyuki heard everything.

"Oh, look at the time." Tsukasa suddenly said. "I wanted to help mom with the cooking today."

"Oh yes, I should also head home. It unfortunately takes quite some time from here to get home." Miyuki added.

"Okay." Konata answered

The four stood up and went downstairs and they were just about to say goodbye.

"Oh my, I forgot my textbook upstairs. I'll go and get it quick." Miyuki suddenly said at the door.

"Good old Miyuki, spacey as always." Konata nodded as Miyuki walked upstairs and almost tripped "And moe."

Miyuki quickly found her book in Konatas room. She was about to leave as she stopped in front of the wardrobe.

"I shouldn't look but I want to know... Kagami-san was way too secretive about all that."

Miyuki opened the wardrobe door and took a quick peek but she didn't found anything too suspicious for her taste.

 _'_ _Hmm, just some clothes and something what looks like cosplay.'_ Miyuki thought on her way downstairs. _'Nothing odd for Izumi-san. I'm sure the cosplay wasn't Kagami-sans. She would never wear it. It's Kagami-san after all. Maybe she lied to Izumi-san."_

"Found your book?" Kagami asked.

"Yes, it fell under the table, so I didn't saw it at first."

"That's good." Konata nodded. "I don't want any extra textbooks in my room."

"You don't even want your own." Kagami added.

"Exactly."

Miyuki bowed slightly as Tsukasa and she left. Kagami and Konata were alone again.

"So what are going to do now?" Kagami asked. "I'm a bit hungry and don't say something now."

"I'm hungry myself so no complaints from me. Cooking dressed as Miku would be nice though..." Konata suggested. However, Kagami didn't like that idea. She made it pretty clear as her fist met Konatas head.

"No."

"I had to try Kagamin~, I had to try."

"Yeah I know you after all." Kagami teased. "Any suggestions?"

"We could make some fried noodles again. It's made pretty quick. Even with you, I guess… or I hope." Konata mumbled the last part.

"Oi! I still heard that."

The two started preparing. Konata boiled some water for the noodles. She doesn't trust Kagami with boiling water due to the previous 'accidents' anymore. She told Kagami to slice the vegetables such as salad, carrots and onions. After that, Konata prepared the meat and told Kagami how to cook it so she could try it herself. Thanks to Konatas training, Kagamis parts actually worked. It was still a bit edgy and needed some more training but you could actually see improvement. The noodles were done and Konata added them to the wok she placed on the stove before. She fried them for a minute until Kagami added the vegetables and the cooked meat. Kagami then kept stirring the noodles and the other ingredients. She added some seasonings at the end and Konata prepared some plates.

"It's actually good."

"Yeah, thanks to your help." Kagami admitted.

"Your measuring and cutting really got better. Didn't see that one coming." She teased. "Well, it's still a bit shady but hey, it's okay. That comes with more exercise."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Kagami half pouted. "Besides, you doing your homework only with some help from me is also remarkable, you little pest." She teased back.

"Thanks tsundere-chan, but don't get too used to it."

"Trust me, I won't." Kagami sighed. "But I guess Tsukasa and mom were a bit right."

"With what?" Konata turned her head.

"That we are influencing each other."

"Oh, yeah totally." Konata cheered. "I mean I got you to like cosplaying."

"Konata…" Kagami sighed heavily. "That's not what I meant."

"But you didn't deny it either, Kagamin~." Konata said which causes Kagami to blush once more.

"S-Shut up, you stupid little otaku midget idiot." Kagami yelled.

"That was a long one, Kagamin~, you're improving." Konata teased but was pouting at the same time.

"Thanks idiot." Kagami growled. "What I meant was the cooking and homework thing mostly. I mean many people failed to teach me cooking and you and your homework... I don't even have to say anything, right?" Kagami continued. "It's just when you are with me in the kitchen. it simply works. Well, the basic stuff at least. I just have no clue why and if you start teasing me now after this I'm going home." She finished and warned afterwards.

"Don't worry, Kagamin~." Konata honestly smiled as she answered. "I know when you're serious and when I can tease you, although with a little grey zone." She explained. "I get your point. If it weren't for you, I don't think I would touch homework in the first place. Though, I don't know either what makes you different, except the nagging about it. It's pretty weird, I guess but I don't really care."

"Yeah it is." Kagami nodded. "Well, as long as it works, I don't care either."

"Why should it stop?" Konata asked. "Anyway… back to the noodles. I think if you pay more attention and be careful… I think you could do it on your own."

"Hmm... you think?" Kagami asked. "Wait, the noodles. They're pretty similar to rice, aren't they? I don't think that would work."

"Oh yeah I forgot, that's no good right now." Konata eagerly agreed. "Ah, right! You can use precooked noodles. You can simply put them in the wok with the other stuff without cooking before. That should work then."

"Really?" Kagamis eyes were shining.

"Absolutely." Konata encouraged her.

"Then I have to try it soon."

"Yes, that makes it miso soup and fried noodles now. I think I have to be rewarded with some gaming upstairs."

"Sure." Kagami nodded.

"And some cosplay." Konata quickly added.

"Choose one." Kagami said something unexpected.

"Ehm what? What did you say Kagamin~?" Konata was shocked.

"Aww too bad. Time's up. Let's get to the game." Kagami teased and stuck out her tongue while she went upstairs.

"K-Kagamin~, wait for me." Konata yelled as she ran after her. "That was super mean."

"You had your chance, it's over now, you lost."

"But..." Konata started.

"Nope."

"But I guess I have to go shopping in case I win sometime in the future."

"D-Don't get your hopes up. I was just teasing a bit." Kagami stammered.

"Kagamin~, if I wasn't shocked a couple seconds ago and responded immediately you would had no chance because I would bug you to the point where you simply gave up." Konata answered with a dead serious tone.

"Urgh... I can actually see that. I guess I have to be more careful then."

"Kagamin~, I know you like it." Konata teased. "But I better stop for now. Let's play the game."

"Good idea. I was already planning another attack." Kagami added, causing Konata to gulp.

The two sat down on Konatas bed and continued the game where they left it yesterday. In the next hours, they made great progress and took two more bosses down. Both game characters were by quite well equipped and experienced now but the game is really complex and so they have still a long way to go. About 11 p.m., Kagami decided that it is late enough to stop for today.

"Wow, that game is pretty long. We played it for two evenings and still only at 15%." Kagami noted.

"Yeah, pretty cool, a lot of game for the price." Konata added.

"Yes, but we should stop for now, it's late and I'm tired."

"Well, I could go on a bit but sure. A tired Kagamin~ is a moody Kagamin~ and a moody Kagamin~ is not good for me." Konata teased.

"Oh, didn't you say I'm always moody?" Kagami asked.

"I said you're a tsundere. I like that kind of moody, but if you're tired you're just plain mean." Konata mumbled.

"I see… Wait, shut up idiot."

"See? That's the good moody I was talking about."

"Yeah yeah, cut it." She sighed. "I should better get the futon out now."

"Why not just stay here?"

"…eh?"

"Well… I mean it doesn't really make a difference, does it? The end will probably the same. Either we stay like this or I'll probably fall out of my bed anyway because of whatever reason it is." Konata explained.

"I guess you have a point, sort of at least and I found a comfortable spot here. BUT!" Kagami warned. "If you're going to do anything weird, you know what's going to happen."

"Kagamin~, you know I'm nice when I sleep."

"Yeah but only then."

"You on the other hand... You are the one who gets interesting when you sleep. I should be the one worried here." She added causing Kagami to blush.

"Cut it you little..." Kagami hissed. "Let's just sleep for now." She had to end the discussion quick because Konata had a point.

"Okay." Konata nodded and turned the light off. Both fell asleep rather quick.

…..

The next morning.

"Well it was hugging and now she's clinging onto my arm. Wait, is that better or…" Konata yawned. "Man, I want to know what's going on when she sleeps." Konata said as she looked at her trapped arm.

5 minutes later.

"Kagamin~ could you wake up by any chance. I need to go to the toilet."

"...and what have I to do with that?" Kagami asked while she yawned. "I'm not going to help you or something." She joked being still half asleep.

"Thanks Kagamin~, I can do that on my own, I'm a grown up girl after all." Konata said, causing Kagami to giggle.

"You call that grown up?" Kagami teased.

"Wow..." Konata was wounded. "That was really mean. I just wanted you to let go of my arm, nothing more..." She muttered.

"Oh..." Kagami released Konatas arm. "I'm sorry Konata, I didn't mean it like that. I may have overdone it a bit..." She quickly apologized as she realized what was going on once more.

"I know Kagamin~, it's okay. I bet you're just still tired. I told you yesterday what happens if you're tired." Konata said. "And probably hungry too, and you're not yourself when you're hungry so we better have a snicke… ehm snack before we leave for school." She added.

"Oi!" Kagami pouted while getting her first blush this day. She was wrong for apologizing. "Didn't you want to go to the toilet?"

"Oh, right." Konata quickly left the room.

"Man, teasing thing is hard." Kagami sighed. "But Konata is good for training." She joked afterwards to herself.

….

Thursday, Lunch break at school.

Konata, Tsukasa and Miyuki were talking about an event that happened after Tsukasa and Miyuki had left Konatas house. The two saw some cosplayers at the station. One of them was dressed as Hatsune Miku, which caused Konata to smile hard, so hard she was almost laughing. Kagami was a bit late because she had some things to do in her own class but she was standing in the doorframe of the class now. She was shocked because she didn't hear the beginning of the conversation.

"She looked really nice in that cosplay." Tsukasa squealed.

"Indeed." Miyuki agreed. "When I arrived home, I looked it up in the internet. She looked almost exactly the same as the Hatsune-san I found, only the hair color was different." She added.

"Yeah, Miku is the best. I didn't expect you to see it and identify it on top, Tsukasa."

"I saw a video of her once on the internet which onee-chan was watching so I remembered it." Tsukasa commented.

"S-She did what?" Konata almost yelled.

"K-Konata!" Kagami shrieked.

"Oh, hey Kagamin~."

"C-Cut that hey." Kagamis face was completely red in anger and embarrassment. "I warned you and yet you..."

"What are you talking about?" Konata didn't understand what was going on.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about." She shouted. Konata totally didn't understand anything until she had the idea that Kagami maybe missed a part of the conversation and got the wrong idea.

"Wait Kagami." Konata interjected. "I think you're missing something here."

"No, I'm not." Kagami hissed. "You..."

"Wait Kagami!" Konata stood up, put her hand on Kagamis mouth and dragged her out. Miyuki and Tsukasa looked at each other confused as so often when it comes to them.

"What was that?" Tsukasa asked.

"I have no idea." Miyuki added.

Outside the of classroom.

"Calm down, Kagami."

"No!" Kagami shouted. "You promised me not to tell and yet..."

"I didn't tell them anything."

"I heard it just now."

"You didn't hear anything, Kagamin~." Konata desperately argued.

"What do you mean?" She finally started to listen a bit.

"It's just a big misunderstanding."

"How can that be a misunderstanding?"

"Miyuki and Tsukasa walked into some cosplayers yesterday at the station and were just telling me about a girl who was dressed as Hatsune Miku. Nothing more."

"…" Kagami was about to die in embarrassment.

"You were the one who almost told them just now." Konata just added more fuel.

"W-Wait so you..."

"Yes, I just told them that I like Miku and saved you afterwards. Nothing more, Kagamin~."

"I-I guess I should apologize then. I'm sorry…"

"Thanks, but you better come up a story for the other two now. You made quite a scene in there." Konata laughed and Kagami turned redder again.

"I… uhm..." Kagami stammered. _"Great..."_

"Let's just go in, I bet I can think of something."

"Okay." Kagami said.

"By the way."

"What is it?"

"I bet you looked better in it." Konata remarked.

"D-Do you want an answer to that?" Kagami tried to hide her embarrassment but it was not possible to hide.

"Nah, your face just did." She yelled before dashed off into the classroom.

"Maybe I should still kill you." Kagami yelled after her.

Back in the classroom, Konata and Kagami sat down at the table again.

"Ehm…" Tsukasa was still looking pretty confused.

"Ehm…" Kagami wanted to start but there was nothing.

"It's nothing you two." Konata looked at Miyuki and Tsukasa. "I was just teasing Kagamin~ a couple days ago and she thought I was talking some funny stuff about her." Konata lied.

"I see, that's not nice Kona-chan." Tsukasa scolded her.

"That's how she is." Kagami added. ' _Great, now I feel bad. She got scolded for stuff she didn't do just because I overreacted.'_

"Yep." Konata sarcastically answered. "By the way, Kagamin~?"

"What is it?"

"Tsukasa just mentioned that you like Miku." Konata teased and was useless feeling bad for her. "And you said you don't before." Konata whispered afterwards to her.

"I-I don't really like her. There are just one or two good songs, nothing more." Kagami mumbled.

"But onee-chan, I saw you watching videos of her quite often." Tsukasa was undoubtly on Konatas side even though she wasn't doing it on purpose.

"T-Tsukasa! Don't say that." Kagami shrieked and turned red again, which caused Konata to start laughing.

"Kagamin~…"

"Just stay silent!"

"And Izumi-san, you like Hatsune-san too? What's your favorite song" Miyuki suddenly asked. ' _I start thinking the cosplay from yesterday in Izumi-sans wardrobe has some meaning after all. It looked a bit like a Hatsune cosplay, judging by the colors at least. Izumi-san reacted happier as I thought after mentioning the cosplayers and Kagami-san looked extremely embarrassed after getting the wrong idea. Much more than she usual gets. But I can't imagine her…'_ Miyukis thoughts got interrupted.

"Hmm... favorite song, huh?" Konata started thinking about it. "I think I like almost every song I heard. I somehow like _her_ as a whole." Konata added.

"I see." Miyuki answered and Kagami got an idea.

"Hey Konata, maybe you should tell her about your dream." Kagami teased and she actually got Konata to blush, which made her smile.

"Oh, what dream, Kona-chan?" Tsukasa asked.

"G-Good comeback, Kagamin~." Konata acknowledged. "Maybe I should but then I better tell them the whole scene where I remembered it." She teased back and looked at Kagami. She went silent and a bit redder.

"Hey Konata, maybe you shouldn't tell her about your dream after all." Kagami quickly changed her mind.

"Good girl." Konata said and petted Kagamis head.

"Aww, you two being all secretive is no fun." Tsukasa was not happy.

"I'm sorry Tsukasa, maybe another time."

"Yeah." Kagami added. "Wait, no!"

 _'_ _Suspicious.'_ Miyuki thought again as she took another bite from her lunch.

* * *

.

You weren't expecting that update, huh? Being bored on a weekend sure comes in handy sometimes.

Embarrassed Kagami is such a cutie.

I guess I don't need an end of chapter rant because the last is not even a day old and is still relevant. I could copy it here but…

Next chapter… well, first it's going to be longer than a day to be released and Kagami will 'move out' again but don't expect much to change with that.


	12. Return of the father

The remaining days until the weekend were pretty uneventful. Konata tried to get Kagami to cosplay again but without success. She almost gave in but she succeeded to say no, much to Konatas displeasure. The two also did some more cooking practice. Konata managed to get Kagami more into accurate measuring, using of seasonings and clean and accurate cutting of the ingredients. Kagami actually made some remarkable progress, except for the seasonings. Cinnamon hasn't as many uses as Kagami thought. For now, she'll stay with the basic ones like pepper, salt and chili. Yet, most of the time the two were playing their 'favorite' game. It was Saturday afternoon by now. They just finished their homework. Kagami had mastered a pretty good technique to make Konata do her homework on her own: Ignoring. No matter how hard Konata complained, clinged to her or even hugged her, Kagami simply didn't react, obviously except her usual blushing. In the end, Kagami only helped her with questions she honestly didn't understand. Konata wasn't liking the new skill of Kagami at all. Sadly, she had no other choice and her head was about to explode.

"Kagamin~, we can stop now, right?" She wailed.

"We're done, so yeah, you're free."

"Yay."

"But we, or rather I have a new problem." Kagami suddenly said.

"What is it?"

"I have no clothes for tomorrow."

"Then let's go and stay at your place, just like last weekend." Konata suggested.

"That's a plan but I better call first." Kagami said as she picked up her phone and called home.

"Kagamin~, I'm sure you mother doesn't mind." Konata said and a couple seconds later, Kagami closed her phone again.

"Well, looks like no one is at home anyway."

"Let's just go and ask later."

"Yeah, I'm sure it's okay. Besides, your dad is coming back tomorrow so it's just a day." Kagami agreed.

"Oh, yes, my dad is coming back. Totally forgot about that." Konata scratched her head.

"How can you forget that?" Kagami sighed.

"Well..." Konata started thinking. "I guess you're more fun than my dad." She laughed. "Except the homework part that is."

"I think that was a compliment, right? Although I feel a bit sorry for you dad. It was a bit mean."

"Aww Kagamin~, he's used to it" Konata joked.

"I don't know if that makes it better." Kagami sighed.

"But then that means you're moving out now." Konata said.

"Yeah… Wait, I never really moved in in the first place. I just crashed here for two weeks."

"Again, details Kagamin~." Konata teased, but still was a bit sad about it.

"And just because I don't stay every night doesn't mean I can't come over right?"

"Yeah... That's true!" And all was good again.

"As long as you keep behaving and your dad doesn't creep me out." Kagami sighed

"Could be hard to archive." Konata had her doubts.

"Which part?"

"Both…"

"Whatever, let's go."

"Yes."

Kagami packed her stuff and the two left Konatas home. As they exited the train at the station near Kagamis home, they met Tsukasa who just came out of another train.

"Oh, hey onee-chan and Kona-chan." Tsukasa yelled after them.

"Hi Tsukasa. What are you doing here?" Konata greeted her.

"I was at Yuki-chans place until now." She answered. "And you two?"

"Kagami miscalculated her clothing and she had nothing to wear for tomorrow." Konata explained.

"It was just because I made some of them dirty while our cooking practice."

"Yeah, and that was whose fault?" Konata teased and both, Tsukasa and her, giggled, causing Kagami to get embarrassed.

"Shut up!"

The three walked together to Kagamis house and Tsukasa opened the door.

"Are you two hungry?" Tsukasa asked. "I wanted to cook something because I am a bit hungry."

"I could eat something." Kagami answered.

"Kagamin~ is hungry? I'm shocked!" Konata remarked while being as sarcastic as she could.

"Oi, you little... You know I can just kick you out, right?" She hissed.

"Please have mercy, oh great Kagami-sama!" Konata begged.

"Idiot..." Kagami sighed.

"Oh!" Konata suddenly looked like she had an idea. "Tsukasa, do you have stuff for fried noodles, including pre-cooked noodles?"

"Ehm… yeah, I often do it with them because it's faster. Why do you ask, Kona-chan?" Tsukasa looked at her and saw Konata smiling mischievously.

"Sit down here with me, Tsukasa." Konata gestured at the kitchen counter where she was already sitting. "Good luck Kagamin~!"

"…ehhh?" Kagami wasn't expecting this development.

"Kona-chan, what do you mean?"

"We made some noodles a couple days ago and Kagamin~ was surprisingly good at it."

"Oi! Was that 'surprisingly' really necessary?" Kagami pouted.

"Yes." She was dead serious.

"So… you're seriously telling me, that onee-chan can even make fried noodle thanks to you, Kona-chan?" Tsukasa asked in disbelief at her.

"Yeah, well it was a bit like the miso-soup last week. It just worked somehow. I only helped a bit here and there." Konata explained.

"T-That's amazing onee-chan, show me!" Tsukasa wanted to see proof.

"Last time you weren't that cheerful, sis."

"Last time I was scared but I survived your miso-soup, so I want to see it." She explained.

"Let's go then, Kagamin~." Konata encouraged her.

"But…" She mumbled.

"Just go!" Konata gave the final push.

"Fine." Kagami gave in to the pressure.

Twenty minutes later, Kagami was done and it looked quite good. Tsukasa rubbed her eyes in disbelief and Konata proudly nodded.

"Well… I made too much but I think it's done." Kagami shyly proclaimed. Both Tsukasa and Konata gave it a try even though Konata already know how it's going to taste because she was watching her the entire time.

"Wow… it's good." Tsukasa couldn't believe it.

"Yep, definitely better than last time." Konata nodded.

"Thanks, you two." Kagami quietly said. "No teasing this time? I'm impressed."

"I could if you want, Kagamin~." Konata answered.

"No thanks, I'm fine."

"Okay…" Konata faked a sad voice.

"What else can you do, onee-chan?" Tsukasa became curious.

"We didn't really cook much else. I primary explained to her how to measure and cut stuff right." Konata answered for her.

"Oh yeah, that's important." Tsukasa nodded.

"Yep, oh… and the right use of seasonings. Man, Kagamin~ really likes her cinnamon." Konata teased. "She basically wanted to use it in everything but she now knows the basic ones at least. That should be good for the beginning."

"Cinnamon is nice." Kagami pouted.

"It is!" Tsukasa agreed.

"Yeah but Tsukasa, you probably use it in sweets like cookies and stuff, right?" Konata said and Tsukasa nodded. "Kagamin~ wanted to use it in main dishes."

"Oh." Was the only thing Tsukasa could answer in return.

"Yeah, I get it so stop it." Kagami said.

The three went upstairs to Tsukasas room who remembered something.

"Oh, onee-chan, I forgot to bring my history stuff to Yuki-chans place today, so I couldn't do it... Can you help me with it?"

"Hmm, my class didn't have any history homework." Kagami answered.

"Oh no! What I'm going to do now?!" Tsukasa was getting nervous.

"I can help you." Konata suddenly proposed. Tsukasa looked at her, shook her head and looked at Kagami without saying anything.

"W-What did she just say, onee-chan?" She stuttered.

"I can help you, I already did them." Konata repeated.

"A-Are you sick, Kona-chan? Did you hear what you just said?" Tsukasa looked really worried. Konata turned towards Kagami.

"Kagamin~, I begin to understand how it is when no one believes in the things you do." Konata sobbed.

"That's good to hear, I think... So, will you change?" Kagami asked.

"Nah, I don't think so."

"Wow, you're pretty easy to read Konata." Kagami was expecting exactly that.

"You're not that much better." Konata retorted.

"So… uhm…" Tsukasa felt a bit left out

"I really did them and I'm willing to help you." She boasted. "Kagamin~ forced me to do all of my homework on my own. Even the one she didn't have to but knew about. It was awful!"

"I'm just doing it for you, Konata." Kagami sighed.

"No, it was just for your own amusement. I'm sure of that." Konata pouted.

"Shut up, you idiot." She wasn't denying it though.

"Thank you, Kona-chan. I would really like your help and I'm sorry, I just wasn't expecting that." Tsukasa apologized.

"It's okay Tsukasa, don't mind it."

Konata started helping her with the homework, at least with the parts she remembered. Kagami was just looking at the two and smiled.

"But seriously you two, what is going on?" Tsukasa asked, causing the two to shrug.

"What do you mean, Tsukasa?"

"I mean you're acting all different. Look Kona-chan, you're helping me with my homework right now! And onee-chan started cooking and with success on top. It's super weird!"

"Hmm, I think it's just two friends influencing each other with good and stupidly bad things." Kagami explained.

"Yep, I think so too." Konata nodded. "And the homework thing right now is definitely a bad thing." She teased. "A stupidly bad thing…"

"I don't even want to start with the bad things I got from you." Kagami sighed.

"What do you mean?" Konata asked.

"You know what I mean."

"No, not really. Oh wait, you mean the…" Konata stopped after receiving a glare from Kagami. "No that's 100% a good thing."

"I don't think so."

"What is it?" Tsukasa asked.

"The same thing from school a couple days ago." Konata answered. "The thing Kagamin~ doesn't want to talk about."

"Oh." Tsukasa answered. "I will find out one day, I'm sure of it."

"I hope not." Kagami mumbled.

They finished the homework a little later and started chatting about random things. Someone suddenly knocked at the door and opened it a bit.

"Hey Tsukasa, already back again?" Miki was at the other side of the door.

"Yeah, I forgot some of my homework and had to head back earlier."

"Aw, that's bad." Miki answered. "By the way, did you change your noodle recipe? I tasted a bit in the kitchen and it was different but not bad."

"No, I didn't make it." She answered. Miki opened the door a bit more and saw the other two at the other side of the table.

"Oh, Konata is here and Kagami too."

"Thanks for mentioning me at last, mom." Kagami mumbled but Miki continued to ignore her.

"So you cooked it then, Konata?" She asked and Konata shook her head, laid an arm around Kagamis neck and pulled her close, causing her to blush. With her other hand she pointed above Kagamis head.

"That one over here made it." Konata answered proudly.

"That one?" Kagami hissed.

"Wait a second… You mean you did teach her… Kagami how to cook make it?" Miki asked Konata as she looked completely stupefied.

"It was mostly her own work, I just helped a bit."

"Wow, that's impressive. I didn't see this coming, well neither did I last week with the soup."

"Want to hear something even more impressive, mom?" Tsukasa interjected.

"How can you top that?" Miki joked.

"Onee-chan managed to make Kona-chan do her homework on her own and you heard from us how she's with that. And even more, she just helped me with my own."

"You two are really good for each other, huh?" Miki said.

"I said the same." Tsukasa agreed.

"By the way Miki, can I stay over here tonight?"

"Sure Konata, you don't even need to ask. You're always welcome here." Miki nodded.

"Thanks. See, I told you, Kagamin~."

"Yeah yeah. You two being all friendly with each other still confuses me greatly." Kagami mumbled.

Konata and Kagami were in her room later on. Tsukasa came out of the bath and Konata had already took one.

"Onee-chan, you can go now." Tsukasa said while drying her hair with a towel.

"Okay, thanks." Kagami answered and left the room.

While being alone in the room with Tsukasa, Konata suddenly remembered something.

"Tsukasa? Can I ask you something about your sister?"

"Sure Kona-chan, wait is it about that thing you two are so secretive about?" She replied and got instantly curious about it.

"No no, she doesn't want to talk about that and so I'll stay silent about it."

"Aww okay, too bad... What do you want to know then?"

"Well, now that I think about it... maybe I shouldn't ask about it." Konata scratched the back of her head maybe it wasn't a good idea after all.

"Come on Kona-chan, you're just being mean now." Tsukasa was not amused.

"Okay, fine." Konata sighed. "But promise me you won't tell anyone, especially your sister. I'm pretty sure would kill me…"

"Okay, I won't tell her. I swear."

"You probably slept in the same bed as her before, right?"

"Well uh, yeah. Although not lately because she always refuses." Tsukasa answered.

"I see… though that's weird. She didn't mind that much earlier." Konata mumbled.

"So you shared a bed? That's nice but I'm a bit jealous..." She grumbled.

"Poor Tsukasa." Konata tried not to laugh. "Well… mostly it was more of an accident because we just fell asleep after gaming too long. But that's not the point anyway right now."

"Oh, what do you mean?"

"Hmm… why is she so clingy?" Konata simply asked.

"Huh?" She looked confused at Konata. "Aren't you always hugging her for no reason, Kona-chan?"

"No, wait yes, it's fun to tease her. But no, I didn't mean that."

"Your point is?" Tsukasa had absolutely no idea what she's talking about.

"Well, she almost always hugs me while we're sleeping to the point I can't even move in the morning when I want to get up." Konata explained.

"I see." Tsukasa nodded but a couple seconds later, she shook her head. "Wait, I never saw her doing that when we shared a bed."

"Too bad, I hoped to get an explanation for that."

"I did always hug her because I wanted to be closer to onee-chan but I think that's because I'm her sister, I think."

"Yeah, that doesn't really help me." Konata shook her head. "She's pretty confusing."

"If you don't want that maybe you should tell her."

"No, I mean she said she isn't doing it on purpose because she's sleeping while doing it. Besides, I don't really mind. It's nice to wake up with something warm next to you. It's quite relaxing to be precise." Konata explained.

"Oh yeah, I can understand that. It really felt nice hugging her." Tsukasa eagerly nodded.

"I still want to know why, though…"

"Maybe it's some sort of payback for you because you also hug her all the time." Tsukasa joked.

"Maybe, although I sort of like it. Hmm… but I'm pretty sure deep down Kagamin~ likes it too, because of her blushing. Pretty complex thing." Konata grinned.

"As long as you don't mind, I see no harm in it. Although I have to agree, onee-chan hugging someone is unexpected.

Kagami came back from the bath a little later and wearing her hair open because it was still a bit wet.

"What are you two talking about?"

"Nothing Kagamin~, right Tsukasa?"

"Yes, nothing onee-chan."

"I've told both of you that your lying is pretty easy to see through multiple times. Just tell me!"

"Onee-chan, you also don't want me to tell what happened at Kona-chans place some days ago."

"Yep, it only just fair this way, Kagamin~." Tsukasa and Konata were a good alliance.

"Fine." Kagami sighed. "But Konata, if you told her 'that', I will find out and I will kill you." She threatened.

"No Kagami-sama, it was a different subject." Konata reassured.

"Good for you."

"So many hardships in this friendship." Konata sighed.

"Oh yeah, I have to agree on that." Kagami felt the same.

The three started watching some movies on the TV. After a while, Tsukasa felt tired and she went to sleep in her room. Kagami also felt sleepy about two hours later, so the two decided to go to bed. Konata wanted to sleep together in the bed but Kagami didn't. After a bit arguing, Konata was successful banned to the futon on the floor and thus, nothing happened at the night. The next day also started slow. Konata, Kagami and Tsukasa were mainly chatting until Konata decided to head home because her dad probably was already at home. Kagami decided to send her off at the door.

"I guess I'll see tomorrow at school, huh?" Kagami said at the door.

"Yeah, I mean I don't want to go to school but I have to..."

"Same as ever." Kagami sighed. Konata suddenly made a step forward and hugged her.

"W-What is it now? Stop it." She stuttered as she got a little flustered.

"Thank you, Kagamin~." Konata quietly whispered. Kagami calmed down at her sincere sounding words and stopped resisting for a bit.

"You're welcome." Kagami whispered back. A couple moments later, Konata released her, stepped back, said goodbye and left.

"Bye." Kagami said in return. "That was weird. But it was nice, I guess?" She added as she closed the door and moved back to her room.

…..

Konata reached her home and opened the front door. Her dad was indeed already at home and just came downstairs.

"Oh, hey dad."

"There you are Konata, I was looking for you." He answered and started hugging her.

"Ah, not that hard dad, I'm suffocating over here." Konata tried to push him away.

"I just missed you because I didn't saw you for such a long time."

"Dad, if you continue like that, it's probably going to be the last hug you can ever give because I'll die." Konata overdramatized.

"Don't say stuff like that, Konata." Sojiro sobbed as he released her.

"That's the only thing that works with you. I also missed you, even though I almost forgot that you come back today."

"Aww, that's mean." He wept.

"I was just busy, that's all."

"I see. Where were you anyway earlier? I tried to call you but you never answered."

"I stayed the night at Kagamis place and like always, I forgot my phone."

"You two had fun while I was gone, huh?" He asked.

"Yes, it was great." Konata answered.

"I could see that. I looked at your room and the kitchen... You two were pretty active, weren't you?"

"Yeah…" Konata nodded while scratching the back of her head.

"It's okay, I don't mind as long as you weren't too lonely here."

"No not even a bit." Konata reassured.

"That's good." He happily nodded.

"By the way dad, can we buy a new bed for me. The old one is getting pretty annoying."

"Ehm... what's wrong with it?" Sojiro asked as he looked quite confused.

"It's super uncomfortable and I even fell out of it countless times the last weeks because of it. Even the floor I landed on was more comfortable." She explained.

"I see..." He made a short pause. "Well… I don't really mind."

"Yay, can we go tomorrow?"

"That could be a bit hard." He sighed.

"Why, what happened?"

"You remember the last light novel I wrote?"

"Yes, well no, I mean yeah, you wrote one but I never read it." Konata stuttered.

"But you have a copy in your room. You don't have to be embarrassed about it."

"Why should I be embarrassed?" She asked.

"Ehm… nothing. You have a copy in your room though."

"What's up with that suspicious reaction? You know I don't read light novels." Konata said. She then went into her room and found the book. "Wait, you mean this?" She asked.

"Exactly. Do you remember now?"

"No… Wait, I remember. Kagamin~ bought it a couple days ago."

"K-Kagami did?"

"Yeah, why?" Konata looked confused.

"Nothing, I just didn't expect it."

"And she really liked it by the way." Konata added. "If it gets a manga or anime adaption tell me, okay?"

"She liked it? That's… okay… that's great!"

"So, why don't you have time because of a book you already wrote?" She got back to the topic.

"You see, on the work trip, my editor told me that this light novel is selling extremely well. It's apparently climbing pretty fast and high in the charts."

"Congratulation, dad." She interjected.

"Because of that, he ordered me to write a sequel or rather two more volumes for now. That's part of the reason while I had to stay longer and because of that, I'm sadly going to be pretty busy the next weeks." He explained.

"I see. But that's good, right? I mean money wise?"

"Yeah, absolutely. So many games I can buy now." He joked. "But I don't have the time to play them…"

"And I'm getting a deluxe bed." Konata teased. "And don't worry, I'll play them for you."

"As long as you don't overdo it, I don't mind."

"Thanks dad. Well, I'm just going to ask Kagamin~ if she wants to come with me. She was complaining about as strong as me after all." She said.

"Sounds good. Wait… what has she to do with that?" He got extremely confused.

"Long story, nothing important for you." Konata quickly brushed him off. "Well, I'm in my room then." She said as she left to write some more.

"Ehm… okay?" He looked still confused after her, scratched his head and went to the living room where his laptop was.

…

Later that evening in Kagamis room.

"Man, I'm kind of bored." Kagami yawned and watched around her room. "With Konata nearby, there was more action ongoing." She was lost in thoughts.

Her phone just rang in that very moment.

"Ahh, that startled me." She shrieked. "Oh, hey Konata, what is it now?"

"Hey Kagamin~, already missing me?"

"S-Shut up, w-why should I miss you, especially now already. Ah! No, forget that."

"So cute." She teased.

"What do you want? I mean your homework is done, you shouldn't have a reason."

"So mean Kagamin~, I just wanted to call you."

"Ok fine." Kagami sighed.

"Are you free tomorrow after school?"

"So you wanted something after all."

"Yeah, spending time with you." Konata answered.

"Come to the point, will you?" She was getting a little impatient.

"I talked with my dad and he gave me money for a new bed and I need you to find one."

"Why me? Can't you go with your dad?"

"No, he's busy. He has to write a new book because his editor wants another one."

"I see, I don't even want to imagine what kind of books he writes." Kagami sighed and she instantly heard Konata furiously laughing through the phone.

"Kagamin~..."

"What?" Kagami yelled.

"Nothing, I'll tell you later. So, you're free, right?"

"Yeah yeah, be glad golden week starts after next week and test are starting only after that."

"Don't remind me of that. Now that I think of it, we have to plan something for golden week."

"Yeah, how about some studying."

"Kagamin~." Konata sighed. "I mean fun stuff beside that."

"I know you well enough for that."

"Okay, I have to do some stuff to do, see you at school tomorrow, Kagamin~."

"Bye." Both said at the same time.

Kagami put the phone away and sighed again.

….

"What am I going to do now?" Konata said to herself. "I should start my net game again. I haven't played it for like two weeks or so."

Konata started her computer, loaded her game, and was surprised by a flood of ingame messages.

"What the..." Konata gasped. "Is someone stalking me?" She looked at the messages and was even greater shocked.

"Izumi-Izumi!-Where are you?-IZUMI!-What the hell?-IZUMI!-I can't raid without you-IZUUMIII!" And many, many other messages just like that. "'Sender: nanakon' Sensei…" Konata sighed. "Why do you have this much time? I bet she waited for me 24/7. She did a good job in holding in at school though." She shook her head.

The chat windows of her game suddenly started blinking, causing Konata to sigh again because she had an idea who just texted her.

Nanakon: IZUMI!

Konakona: Oi sensei.

Nanakon: Don't 'oi' me!

Konakona: ;;

Nanakon: Where the hell were you?

Konakona: Uhm… I was busy?

Nanakon: You and busy sure... I bet you didn't even do your homework for tomorrow…

Konakona: Sensei, I feel insulted. I did everything Monday already. It's even done since yesterday. Furthermore, I helped Tsukasa with her own homework.

Nanakon: …

Konakona: ?

Nanakon: Where are you and how did you hack Izumis account?

Konakona: Sensei... ;; ;;

Nanakon: Like hell did you all your homework already and even helped the little Hiiragi sister.

Konakona: Sensei, I spent the last two weeks 24/7 with Kagami, do you really think she would let me live a peaceful live if I hadn't done my homework?

Nanakon: You have point there… Wait, why did you spent two weeks with her?

Konakona: Why not? She more or less lived here.

Nanakon: Hmm… okay, whatever. You owe me two weeks of game time!

Konakona: Well… I'm busy tomorrow with Kagami again but tonight I'm free and I slept pretty well, let's go.

Nanakon: Hmm…. Well then, let's go.

The two played for some hours. However, after around midnight, Konata felt tired. Thanks to Kagami, her messed up sleeping rhythm got corrected and she started to feel tired at normal times. Konata didn't like it because to her, her new rhythm was messed up. And Kuroi sensei didn't like it either because she had to play the rest of the night alone.

…..

Next day at school at lunchtime as usual.

"Oh, Konata you look unusual awake for a Monday. Don't tell me you continued the for you ' _early'_ going to bed rhythm?" Kagami was really good at this kind of stuff.

"Yeah, it's totally your fault. You forced your weird sleeping habit on me." Konata sighed.

"Konata, your usual sleeping habit is the weird one." Kagami answered.

"Kuroi-sensei is on my side with that." Konata retorted. Kagami looked around to see if Kuroi is anywhere near but she wasn't.

"I don't think she is a good example for that."

"She even scolded me last night because she wanted to do an all-nighter and I went to bed around 12."

"12 is for normal people still a bit late." Kagami argued. Miyuki and Tsukasa nodded.

"I'm already fast asleep at this time, even at weekends." Miyuki explained.

"Miyuki." Konata sighed. "I can't follow your footsteps because of various reasons." She started grinning.

"Stop right there." Kagami interjected. "We don't need to hear it."

"Kagamin~ knows exactly what I mean, I see." She teased.

"S-Shut up idiot."

"Aww my neck hurts." Tsukasa suddenly said.

"Why is that?" Kagami asked.

"Watching you two arguing is like watching a tennis match. Always back and forth." She explained.

"We aren't arguing all the time." Kagami answered.

"Yes we do."

"No we don't."

"Of course we do."

"No."

"We're doing it right now." Konata said and Kagami just sighed in return.

"See? Exactly like tennis." Tsukasa concluded.

"By the way, Kagamin~?"

"What is it now?"

"You told me yesterday that you don't want to imagine what kind of light novel my dad writes, right?" Konata answered.

"Yeah, the reason should be obvious, don't you think?"

"Are you sure?" Konata started smiling and looked for something in her bag.

"Yes, why?"

"Nothing Kagamin~." She paused a bit "But if you change your mind, here is his latest book." She put the light novel on the table.

"Like I said, I'm not planning on..." Kagami glanced at the table and turned pale.

"Kagamin~?"

"Y-Y-Your dad wrote that b-book?" Kagami stuttered, her face turned from pale to red.

"Yeah. What's with that reaction?" Konata asked. "My dad was also a bit weird yesterday because of it."

"Y-Your dad knows?" She became even redder.

"Well yeah… He found it in my room and asked me if I read it but it was yours."

"Oh great." Kagami sighed.

"Is something wrong with the book?"

"N-No, not really. I was just surprised that it was your dad who wrote it." Kagami explained.

"Suspicious." Konata felt like she was missing something

"So you still didn't read it?" Kagami asked.

"Nope, well it's a bit tempting because of your reaction and that of my father but not that tempting to read a book."

"I see." Kagami said.

"But be happy Kagamin~, my dad is working on a sequel right now." She added.

"Great." Kagami mumbled.

….

After school, Konata and Kagami went to a nearby to a nearby furniture store. Like expect, it was a good thing that Kagami came with her because Konata isn't exactly good at making… rational decisions.

"Wow, so many different beds." Konata exclaimed as she looked around.

"Well that's the point of a furniture store." She answered.

"I'm not sure how to decide on which."

"That's easy, just get a comfortable one." Kagami sighed.

"You have a point there. But this one over here looks so much better but the one over there is comfier." Konata argued while pointing to different beds. Suddenly, a clerk appears.

"Can I help you two?" He asked.

"No thanks, we're fine for now. We're just looking for a new bed." Kagami answered and then gestured to Konata. "She is just very hard to handle so it may will take some time."

"Oi! That's mean, Kagamin~." Konata felt offended. "But it's true, so go on."

"I see." The clerk confusedly nodded as he inspected the two. "Feel free to ask me anything if something comes up."

"Back to the topic, Konata." Kagami said. "The actual bed and the mattress are two different things which you can choose independently." She explained.

"Oh, I see. That's great."

"See? You're pretty hard to handle." Kagami teased.

"Hmpf." She pouted. "So then, the first bed. It was great but too hard but that's no problem then. Now to the mattress."

"Great, a little success..." Kagami sighed. "I think over there is an area just for mattresses."

After some time, which felt an eternity to Kagami, Konata was still uncertain. Kagami got tired, sighed and sat down on a random mattress.

"Hey Konata, how is this one." Kagami gestured at the one she was sitting on. Konata leapt on it and rolled a bit around on it.

"Hey, this one is great, that's Kagamin~ for you." Konata happily patted Kagamis back as a reward while almost falling asleep on the bed.

"Oi! Behave yourself, that's not your home here." Kagami shouted.

"Fine. By the way, how do we get this stuff home now?" She asked.

"Ehm..." Kagami started. "These stores normally have a delivery service. With that, you would get it by tomorrow." She explained.

"That's good and gives my time to hide the stuff under my old bed."

"What do you want to hide." Kagami asked.

"Ehm… nothing, nothing at all." Konata started fidgeting.

"Ahh." Kagami rolled with her eyes. "I get it. I don't even want to know it anymore."

Konata ordered the stuff she wanted and the two left the store.

"Hey Kagamin~, want to come over for an hour or so?" Konata asked while the two were walking towards the station.

"An hour sounds ok. To be honest, you took ages in there but somehow I expected that it would take even longer." Kagami answered.

"I should feel insulted now, shouldn't I?" Konata pouted.

"Take what works for you." Kagami teased.

….

The two reached Konatas house.

"I'm back!" Konata yelled while entering.

"Welcome back." Her dad yelled back from the living room and stepped outside. "Oh, hey Kagami." He added after seeing her.

"Hello." Kagami said. ' _Please don't mention the book. Please don't mention the book. Please don't mention the book…'_ She prayed multiple times inside her mind.

"Thanks for keeping Konata company while I was gone. I know how she can be." He said.

"Oi!" Konata wasn't okay with that.

"No problem." Kagami ignored her. "Although unexpected, it was fun."

"Yeah, I saw the big stain on the kitchen ceiling. I kind of wonder how that happened."

"Kagamins~ cooking skills are pretty special." Konata teased.

"I'm sorry for the stain." Kagami quickly apologized.

"It's fine." Sojiro said. "Imaging two highs school girls together in the kitchen is more apology than I could ever hope for." He added.

"Ehm.,." Kagami stuttered.

"Aaaaand I think it's time for us to head to my room. Let's go, Kagamin~."

"Good idea." Kagami quickly said and the two left.

Inside her room, the two started playing the game from last week again because they're still nowhere near to the end. After one and a half hour, Kagami decided to leave because it was getting late and with this, the day came to an end.

…..

The next day. Konata had put together her bed and was reading some mangas she had forgotten under her old one. Kagami was bored and so she decided to pay her a visit. However, after ringing the bell and waiting 5 minutes outside the door, Konata still hadn't open the door. She took out her phone and called Konata. Due to the reason Konata was in her room, she actually answered it for once.

"Sorry Kagamin~." Konata said after opening the door.

"Finally." Kagami sighed.

"I didn't hear you because I was busy."

"You and busy?" Kagami asked in disbelief. "I can't see that being true."

"It happens every once in a while, Kagamin~."

"Well, you haven't done your homework because I wasn't there. Ah, let me guess, you found a pile of mangas under your bed you forgot about and started reading them and totally forgot about your surroundings." Kagami explained. Konata looked at her with her mouth open.

"Wow, Kagamin, you're a pretty good detective. Conan would be jealous."

"Konata." Kagami sighed one. "You're just an easy case to solve. Wait, who is Conan?"

"Unimportant."

"Ah, whatever."

The next days continued in a similar manner, Kagami continued to be bored and came over every day. Konata also continued with being _busy._ One day Kuroi-sensei insisted in an extended gaming session and the other day she, was watching some random anime. Both became a bit annoyed over the days. Konata for the interruptions because she had to walk to open the door and Kagamin for the constant waiting in front of said door. It was Friday by now, shortly before the start of golden week. Both were in Konatas room. Kagami was laying on Konatas bed and reading a light novel, Konata was sitting on the floor before her bed, reading a manga.

"You know Konata, it's getting pretty annoying to always have to wait at the door until you get the idea to stand up." Kagami sighed.

"I don't even want to start with annoying things. The constant interruptions while reading manga or watching anime are also annoying. Pausing a net game is pretty difficult." Konata mumbled.

"So?"

"Hmm." Konata scratched her chin. "Oh, I have an idea!" She stood up, went to her desk and threw a key to Kagami. "Here."

"Huh? You can't just give me a key to your house, Konata."

"Why not?"

"Because..." Kagami stopped.

"I don't see a problem. I don't have to stand up and you don't have to wait when you come over, which is quite a lot lately I have to add, not complaining though. I don't mind if you simply come into my house and I'm sure my dad either because of reasons I don't want to tell and you don't want to hear." Konata explained.

"If you explain it like that, it doesn't sound that stupid, except the dad part obviously. But I'll still ring the bell first, though."

"Do however you like Kagamin~." Konata teased. "By the way, you look pretty comfortable over there." Konata gestured at her lying over the bed.

"S-Shut up. Didn't we want to meet Tsukasa and Miyuki today at the mall?"

"Don't change the subject, Kagamin~." Konata had seen through her.

"I-I wasn't but yeah, your bed is pretty comfortable after all. You made a good choice."

"Well, the comfy part was your choice but thanks."

"So, back to the mall thing." Kagami finally changed the subject.

"We still have half an hour, Kagamin~." Konata reassured her.

"That's good… Wait, half an hour to be on time or to arrive at the time you usually arrive." Kagami warned and Konata immediately turned her head away.

"Well… I think we should get going then." She mumbled.

"You little..."

Both hurriedly grabbed their thing and left the house to meet up with their friends.

* * *

.

Just like I said, it took longer than a day for the next chapter. It took 2 days!

I was serious with the chapter spam until ch. 16 even though it's quite stupid because once I get there, updates are going to take way longer because I have to actually write stuff first then.

Next chapter also shouldn't take that long, probably around the weekend because it's a bit shorter because it's more of a prelude to something bigger thanks to Miyukis stupid luck.


	13. Golden week

Kagami and Konata quickly arrived at the mall where they wanted to meet Miyuki and Tsukasa. Thanks to Kagami, the two reached the place more or less in time. Miyuki was already waiting but Tsukasa was nowhere to be seen.

"S-See? We didn't need to run at all, Kagamin~..." Konata said while panting as she rested her hand on her thighs.

"Just because my sister isn't here yet, doesn't mean it's for us being late on our own." Kagami hissed. "Besides, letting Miyuki wait alone isn't nice either."

"Don't worry about me, I just came a couple minutes ago myself. It's a bit embarrassing but I missed my train because I was thinking about something and forgot to enter it." Miyuki admitted her mistake.

"Good old Miyuki, moe as always."

"Shut up."

"By the way, Kagami-san, where is Tsukasa-san? Shouldn't you two had come together?"

"Normally yes but I was at Konatas place before we came. I have no idea where she is." Kagami answered her question.

"Oh, I see."

"Why was I at your home in the first place, Konata?" Kagami tilted her head and looked at Konata as she thought about the reason.

"How should I know, Kagamin~? I was just reading some manga before you just suddenly appeared."

"I guess you have a point there." Kagami mumbled. "Maybe I should call first next time."

"Nah, don't bother… the chances are high that I don't hear my phone even if I'm in my room."

"I guess that's another problem altogether." Kagami sighed.

"Onee-chan… Kona-chan… Yuki-chan!" The three heard Tsukasa yelling their names. "I-I'm sorry for being late..."

"It's okay." Kagami answered. "What happened?"

"Well…" Tsukasa started bashfully fidgeting. "I was a bit tired and so I took a short nap but somehow I overheard my alarm and my nap ended up in a full on slumber."

"Good old Tsukasa, moe as always." Konata smirked again.

"Shut up, idiot. We had this already..."

"Well, it's not my fault for them being who they are, Kagamin~."

"But it's your fault for being who you are." She sighed.

"Aww, Kagamin~ is jealous. Don't worry, you too can moe if you want, although mostly on Wednesdays..."

"Oi! S-Shut up already or I'll silence you."

"Fine." Konata pouted. "By the way, why are we here?" Konata had no idea why they all gathered in the mall.

"I wanted to spend some time with the four of us together." Tsukasa answered.

"Fine by me." Konata answered.

"Sounds good." Miyuki added.

"Sure, well maybe you should've said something beforehand so that we could plan it but yeah."

"We could watch another movie or just go to a café and drink some tea and chat a bit."

"I would like some tea." Miyuki nodded.

"Sounds good." Konata and Kagami agreed on the plan.

The four walked towards a nearby café but Tsukasa spotted something different on the way.

"Oh look, a raffle." Tsukasa suddenly blurted out. "Let's give it a try."

"You're right." Miyuki nodded.

"Yeah, I could use some tissues right now." Kagami sarcastically remarked.

"That's the spirit, Kagamin~! Not expecting anything is the right way to win the game."

"Konata..." Kagami sighed. "I'm just being realistic here."

All four got a ticket for the raffle prizes.

"Aww, tissues..." Tsukasa wailed.

"Yeah, me too..." Konata was also dejected. "Look Kagamin~, you expected nothing and got more the end."

"Konata..." Kagami sighed once more. "Getting two packs of tissues isn't exactly what I call winning either."

"Still more than we got." Konata teased.

"Yeah yeah… What did you get, Miyuki? Also tissues, huh?" She asked as she turned towards Miyuki.

"Not exactly..." Miyuki answered. "Actually, I won a trip to Yokohama for a couple days over golden week next week." She declared without a single hint of excitement in her voice.

"Ah, I see... too bad." Kagami emotionlessly answered. "W-Wait… ehh?" She gasped as she realized it.

"Let me get a closer look at the details." Miyuki looked at her prize. "Three nights, four days at a hotel including travel expenses for four people." She explained.

"W-Wow, that's great, Yuki-chan!" Tsukasa was clearly the most excited.

"Damn rich people… Enough money for everything and still got something like this for free…" Kagami mumbled. She wasn't jealous or anything.

"Kagamin~, that's part of her moe factor." Konata explained nothing.

"Shut up you little otaku idiot." She hissed.

"Wait... four people you said…" Konata muttered as she looked around. "Mii-yuu-kii~, who are you taking with you?" Her voice became really sweet all of a sudden.

"Oh, I know that voice." Kagami had a bad feeling.

"I'm not really sure, Izumi-san. My parents are busy over golden week and..." Miyuki said. "How about you three. I guess that would be the most fun."

"Sure, I'm in Miyuki." Konata showed no hesitation at all.

"Me too." Tsukasa added in lightning fast speed.

"Wait a moment you two, don't forget…." Kagami was immediately interrupted.

"Kagamin~, no, don't come us with homework now or rather other school related stuff at all. This is a once in a lifetime chance. I mean, a free trip to a different city including a hotel!" Konata explained with such a serious face that Kagami had never seen before.

"Yes onee-chan, Kona-chan is right." Tsukasa sent a pleading smile towards her sister causing her to sigh in defeat as usual.

"Yokohama, huh? Fine, I guess it really is something special after all."

"Yay, thanks Kagamin~!" Konata cheered before she tackled Kagami in a hug.

"Oi, let go of me!" She hissed while a slight blush appeared on her face. "But we still should ask our parents first." She added and Konata released her and immediately called her dad.

"Hi dad… No nothing happened… Is it okay if Kagamin~, Tsukasa, Miyuki and I spent golden week in Yokohama?... Sure... Thanks dad!" She hung up and smiled. "I'm good."

"Wow, that was fast… Wait, you actually brought you phone? I'm impressed."

"Oh no, that's yours. Here, catch." Konata said and gave Kagami her phone back.

"Thanks." She said without thinking. "H-Huh? Why do you have my phone?"

"Well… I needed to call my dad and my phone is at home."

"I see." Kagami again said without thinking. "Wait, how did you get my phone?!" Her voice was getting louder.

"How you ask? I'm good, that's how!" Konata teased.

"You little..." She yelled before she jumped at Konata and tackled her on the floor. "You're going to die now."

"Ehm… K-Kagamin~." Konata stuttered. "I don't mind if we continue where we last stopped but keep in mind we're in public now..." Konata said and gestured at the people around them who started looking. Kagami realized that and her face went completely red and she immediately retracted herself.

"You… that's not over yet!" She warned. It was a good thing thy were a bit off to the side so not many people saw them but she still was blushing furiously.

"Locking forward to it."

"Aww, the two are having fun as always." Tsukasa enviously said as she looked at Miyuki.

"Absolutely." Miyuki smiled in response.

"Oi!" Kagami threatened the two.

After calming down, the four decided to ditch the plans for the café and went to Kagami and Tsukasas house to ask their parents if they also can go. Miyuki had called her mother on the way, she got the permission to go. The four now the house and went to the kitchen where Miki was at the moment.

"Hi mom!" Both Tsukasa and Kagami said.

"Hello Mrs. Hiiragi." Miyuki added, she slightly bowed while saying it.

"Hey Miki!" Konata finished.

"Oh, hi girls." She answered. "Didn't you all wanted to spend the day at the mall? Did something happen?"

"Sort of." Kagami said.

"Yuki-chan won a prize at a raffle." Tsukasa interjected because Kagami took too long. "She won a trip to Yokohama over golden week." She added.

"That's great, Miyuki, congratulation."

"Thank you." Miyuki bowed again.

"It is." Kagami said. "But now to the actual thing we're here. The prize is for four people and Miyuki asked us if we want to go with her."

"Oh, I see." Miki answered.

"My dad is okay with it already if that helps somehow for the decision. Miki." Konata added.

"Can we go? Please mom!" Tsukasa was really aggressive today.

"If you all can promise me that you girls won't neglect your studies in the remaining time of golden week..." She started until Konata interjected.

"I'm sure that Kagamin~ was going to force me to study the remaining time anyways. I don't think it's going to be a problem at all." Konata cheered but sighed at the same time.

"And I'm sure you were already looking for a way out." Kagami knows her after all. "Business as usual and I don't think the trip would change anything."

"And I was planning to study at Yuki-chans place after we come back if that's okay." Tsukasa added.

"Sure, I would like that too, Tsukasa-san." Miyuki answered.

"Sounds fine to me then." Miki said. "But please take care of each other over there."

"Thanks, mom!" Tsukasa was really happy. "Let's go, Kona-chan, we have a lot of stuff to plan." She grabbed Konata and dragged her upstairs. Konata hadn't the time nor the chance to say anything.

"Wow, she sure is excited… thanks mom." Kagami said and the two remaining girls slowly followed upstairs.

"Miki?" Miyuki suddenly asked Kagami.

"Hmm? Ah, you mean Konata?" She asked and Miyuki nodded. "That's a long story but to make it short, the two are friends for some reason."

"Oh, I see. That's great I guess."

"It's confusing to say the least..." Kagami forced a smile.

The four were now in Kagamis room and started to discuss their trip.

"Miyuki, can you tell us the details of the trip first before we do the actual planning?" Kagami wanted to know more about it.

"Absolutely, Kagami-san." Miyuki looked at the prize once more. "Our train departs from the Tokyo station on Monday morning at 8:00. The hotel is located in the center of Yokohama and the train back to Tokyo departs on Thursday at 18:00 from the Yokohama station. I think these are the most important details for now. The rest is more or less up to us." She explained.

"Wow, that's pretty early on Monday." Tsukasa wailed and Konata agreed with a strong nod.

"Maybe we should form groups on Sunday and then meet up Monday at the station in Tokyo in order that no one oversleeps." Miyuki proposed.

"Oh yeah, I know exactly two people who are guaranteed to oversleep." Kagami glared at her sister and Konata.

"I'll stay at Yuki-chans place!" Tsukasa shouted.

"Ha, I bet it's because she lives quite near the station so you can sleep longer." Konata teased.

"Exactly." She easily admitted.

"I don't mind." Miyuki nodded.

"So I have to stay with the little one to wake her up and fight with her mood?" Kagami sighed.

"Kagamin~, if I learned only one thing... I may often oversleep but you are the one who isn't a morning person, not me." She teased.

"S-Shut up." Kagami hissed with a slight blush on her cheek. "But Konata, just for your information, we're going to do some studying at Sunday then." She teased back.

"K-Kagamin~!" Konata stammered. "Don't be so cruel."

"That's your own fault." She answered.

"These two sure know how to handle each other." Tsukasa said to Miyuki.

"I have to agree." Miyuki nodded.

"Oi!" Both, Kagami and Konata, shouted in unison, further proving the point of the other two and causing them to start laughing.

"Anyway." Konata changed the subject. "Miyuki, I bet you know a lot about Yokohama. So, what are the things we have to see?"

"Why do you already expect she knows something?"

"Because she is Miyuki and Miyuki knows everything, Kagamin~."

"Actually… I really have read some stuff about Yokohama some weeks ago so I think I know some interesting places." Miyuki proved Konatas assumption.

"Just like I said, Kagamin~. Okay, for the first day, just let's drop our luggage at the hotel and go somewhere fun." Konata demanded. "Are there any fun places, Miyuki?"

"Well, it depends a lot on the personal taste, Izumi-san, but I think the place you're looking for is Cosmo World. It's an amusement park with roller coasters and such things. The biggest attraction is the Ferris wheel, it's one of the biggest in the world with over 110m." Miyuki adverted the park.

"That sound great! I want to go there!" Tsukasa got oven more excited.

"That's exactly what I was talking about, good job Miyuki." Konata gave her a thumbs up.

"There is also huge aquarium park. There are over 500 different species to watch with a total of over 100000 creatures, even sharks."

"Wow! I love fishes! We have to go there!" Tsukasa almost yelled.

"Is it just me or is Tsukasa pretty excited about the whole trip thing." Konata whispered to Kagami. "I mean even for her standards."

"Well you know how she is..."

"I guess you have a point there..." Konata wasn't sure what to expect.

"Yeah, we can do that to Tsukasa… Just calm down a bit."

"Yay!" No sign of calming down at all.

"There are even tanks where you can pet some of them."

"I-I don't want to pet sharks." Tsukasa got scared.

"Tsukasa..." Kagami rolled her eyes. "You can't pet sharks. Wait… you can't, right Miyuki?"

"No, you can only pet smaller animals." She said.

"Aww." Konata was actually disappointed.

"Kona-chan! They would eat you!" Tsukasa yelled.

"Konata…" Kagami had no words for her. "Back to the topic, I have the feeling the trip is going to be pretty expensive with all the entrance fees and stuff." Kagami argued.

"Not necessarily, Kagami-san." Miyuki answered. "Most of the entrance fees are included in the prize. We more or less only have to pay for food outside of the hotel."

"Oh, I see."

"So, Kagami, be careful." Konata teased. "It still can get expensive."

"Shut up, idiot."

"What other things are there where we can go to?" Tsukasa asked.

"There are some parks and gardens which are looking quite beautiful, a couple museums including a ramen and a cup noodle museum and one of japans biggest zoos." Miyuki listed most of the things she remembered.

"Wait, they have a museum for noodles?" Kagami said while shaking her head.

"Why not, Kagamin? Ramen and Cup noodles are a gift to humanity after all."

"Yeah sure…"

"There is an aquarium and a zoo?!" Tsukasa was amazed. "That's the best city ever." Konata leaned towards Kagami and whispered something.

"I'll make a wild guess and say that Tsukasa like animals, right?"

"It's pretty obvious, don't you think?" Kagami whispered back.

"Well… yeah." Konata thought so.

"Oh, there's also a place called Beer Village. It's from a brewing company where you can learn how beer is made and can participate in a beer tasting afterwards. But..." Miyuki stopped.

"But we're underage so that's not going to happen." Kagami quickly said. "Besides, and more importantly, the last thing I want to see in this world is a drunken Konata." She shivered at the mere thought.

"But Kagamin~, it's a culture thing and I on the other hand, would love to see you drunk."

"That is a thing that definitely is not going to happen."

"Too bad." Konata pouted.

"Cut it out."

The two argued for some more time, whether to go there or not. Ultimately, Kagami had won, much to the displeasure of Konata. Afterwards, the four planned the order of watching things in Yokohama. They had a more or less perfect plan after some time and on the next day, Saturday, all four girls were packing their stuff for the trip and on Sunday, Kagami and Tsukasa left their home because they were spending the night at Konatas, respectively Miyukis place. Before Kagami left, she quickly grabbed some schoolbooks because she wanted to do some homework and torture Konata a bit. She was standing in front of Konatas door now. As expected, no one opened and so she used the key Konata gave her a couple days ago.

"You're ignoring the bell on purpose now, aren't you?" Kagami said while entering Konatas room.

"Hey Kagamin~, nice to see you, too. Why should I go to the door if you have a key in the first place?"

"What if it isn't me on the door?"

"Then I have even fewer reasons to go to the door if it isn't you." Konata nonchalantly said.

"So, if my sister or Miyuki would visit you, you wouldn't open the door?"

"Well… Miyuki wouldn't visit me without informing me at least 15 times before she arrives and she probably wouldn't come alone. Tsukasa wouldn't come without you, so yeah, you're basically the only person I would open the door for but now I don't have to do it anymore so yes, I'm ignoring the bell." Konata explained and made Kagami a bit embarrassed.

"I-Idiot."

"What are we going to do for the rest of the day?"

"Homework." Kagami said without any hesitation.

"But Kagamin~…" Konata protested. "I accidentally already did some of them today and I don't want to waste any more time on it."

"That's not my problem, Konata. If you…" She froze after her brain processed what she just heard. "W-What did you just say?" She yelled out of pure disbelief.

"After I threw my school stuff on the table earlier, I saw some of the history homework. It looked somewhat interesting and I did some of it..." Konata explained.

"I see." Kagami was again a bit slow. "Wait, what? You aren't getting sick, right? Not now out of all times..." Kagami took her hand and pressed it on Konatas forehead. "Hmm, your temperature feels normal."

"S-Shut up Kagamin~." Konata actually got a bit flustered and yelled, causing Kagami to chuckle. "The only thing I caught is a little bit of tsundere by you…"

"Hold it."

"Hehe." Konata laughed a little. "The history stuff was about Japanese literature and some of it was manga related and somehow, it looked quite interesting. I didn't touch anything else, though."

"Well obviously." Kagami sighed. "But I'm surprised that you did something at all. It looks like the old 'I-only-do-what-I-like' problem, right?"

"Yep, so if you're done with math, please show it to me."

"Nice try." Kagami answered.

Kagami started her own homework but after some time, she grew tired of it. Mainly because her usual ignoring method didn't seem to work today on Konata. She had repeatedly jumped at Kagami at many occasions and often stole her exercise book. Konata managed to see almost all answers from Kagamis book and copied them. Kagami sighed and gave up for the day.

"Aren't you a bit aggressive today, Konata?" Kagami asked.

"Well your ignoring became pretty good so I had to be more aggressive."

"Yeah yeah. Let's watch a movie or so and go to bed early. I don't want to oversleep tomorrow."

"Yeah and I don't want you to be sleepy and moody tomorrow morning." Konata agreed in her own way.

"S-Shut up."

Konata stood up, picked a random DVD and loaded it. Both sat down on her bed and started watching it. It was some random comedy movie. Konata quickly made herself more comfortable on her bed.

"My new bed is way too good. I think I slept twice as much as I usual do the last week just because I didn't want to get out." Konata said.

"Well before you slept half as much as normal people do so this is a good thing, I guess. But I get your point..." Kagami said as she slumped down a bit herself. "It is good, too bad futons aren't that nice."

"It's not like you have to get up. You can just stay here." Konata suggested.

"You really want to make me as lazy as you are, huh?"

"Well... you don't have to. I was just trying to be nice." Konata pouted.

"Okay, fine. Thanks for trying."

"You really are hard to handle."

"Like you are one to talk." Both giggled a little at her stupid banter and continued watching the movie.

After the movie was finished, the two decided to go to sleep because the next day is probably going to be pretty long and exhausting. Like Konata suggested, the two shared the bed and both had fallen asleep almost instantly. The next morning, Konata realized that Kagami still had the habit of clinging to her while sleeping. She waited a bit because she enjoyed the warmth of her more than she remembered but after she looked at the clock, Konata quickly snapped out of it. She realized that they overslept and were running out of time. She tried to wake Kagami up but she failed miserably. After 15 minutes, she gave up and started a more violent plant. Konata tried push Kagami out of her bed but Kagami unfortunately still showed no sign of letting go of Konata and so both landed on the floor. Kagami hit the floor pretty hard and Konata landed on her.

"Oh man her mood is going soooo bad." Konata mumbled to herself. "Kagami wake up now!" She yelled and she finally succeeded.

"What are you yelling for?" She said and yawned afterwards. "And why are we on the floor and even more importantly, why are you on top of me?" She was too confused and too tired to freak out at this point.

"Okay…" Konata inhaled deeply. "I'm yelling because you didn't want to wake up. We're laying on the floor because of the same reason and I decided to push you out of the bed to wake you up and I'm on top of you because you are still clinging onto me like most of the time when you sleep." Konata explained while trying to remain her serious voice.

"I see, but why were you trying so hard to wake me up?"

"Because when I woke up we overslept a little, nothing serious, so I tried to wake you up. The problem now is because you refused so hard, we're getting more and more late, so please, let go of me and get up." Konata said and Kagami finally started blushing, released her and stood up. "I can't believe we're going to be late because of you and not me." Konata teased.

"S-Shut up and hurry." She yelled.

"Oi! That's my line!" Konata yelled back.

Both started changing and due to the hectic, Kagami started changing in the same room without thinking. Konata unconsciously stared at her changing for a bit before she snapped out of her thoughts once again and a small blush crept on her face. She started changing on her own afterwards. As Kagami finished, she looked towards Konata and she immediately started blushing on her own after realizing where she had changed but for some reason, her eyes also stayed on Konata for a while until she finally turned away. Both dashed into the bathroom and quickly brushed their teeth. On the way out, they grabbed their stuff and left the house running towards the station. The two running girls gained many confusing glances from people around them but both ignored them because they had no time for wondering. They reached their train to Tokyo station barely, it was the last train they could've taken to even reach the others on time but they had to run to the other track to Miyuki and Tsukasa. Both reached the track just two minutes before the train departed. Heavily panting, the two met the other girls. Miyuki and Tsukasa were exchanging confused looks.

"What happened?" Tsukasa asked as she looked puzzled at the two.

"Later..." Kagami had no air left. "Let's go... inside the train... first."

"Y-Yees..." Konata panted. "We don't... want to miss... the train after all."

"Don't tell us that." Tsukasa had to play the straight man for a change.

The four girls went inside the train and sat down on their seats. Konata and Kagami immediately slumped down on their seats next to each other, gasping for more air. Miyuki and Tsukasa slowly sat down on the opposite side of the four seats, which was divided by a small table. A couple minutes later, Konata and Kagami finally calmed down and were breathing normal again. Miyuki and Tsukasa were looking at each other and then at the couple in front of them.

"I suppose Izumi-san overslept?" Miyuki took a guess.

"You even had onee-chan, Kona-chan, how can that happen." Tsukasa scolded her.

"OiOiOi!" Konata yelled. "You two are pretty mean. Just for your information, Kagami was the one who is responsible for us being this late." Konata retorted and Kagami just shyly nodded.

"O-Onee-chan overslept? I didn't see that one coming." Tsukasa was really surprised.

"But why didn't you wake her, Izumi-san?" Miyuki added.

"Haah." Konata dryly laughed. "And how hard I tried. I tried over 15 minutes and in the end, I even pushed her out of my bed and then I..." Konata stopped after she saw Miyukis confused and Kagamis angry face. "After a couple minutes she was awake and the rest is probably self-explaining."

"Konata… you don't have to go into this many details." Kagami whispered to her.

"Kagamin~ but I left out..." She was interrupted one more.

"Yeah Konata, I get it, now, shut up." She hissed.

"But the good thing is, I'm completely awake now." Konata cheered.

"Well, there would be no way after the shock and all the running not to be awake." Kagami added. "I'm a bit exhausted, though but I guess that should be fine after some rest in the train here."

"I see." Miyuki answered. _'I'm absolutely sure there was more. Why should Izumi-san kick Kagami-san out of her bed in the first place?'_ She thought. "But you two are here so I guess it's all fine in the end."

"And that also explains your hair." Tsukasa said as she looked at Konata and Kagami.

"Our hair?" Kagami obliviously asked.

"Oh yes, you two have quite some bed hair." Miyuki explained. Konata and Kagami looked at each and saw what Tsukasa implied.

"Oh… that explains the weird glances on the way to the station." Konata assumed. "Well this and us running all the way to it…." She added only causing Kagami to blush in embarrassment.

"T-Tsukasa, do you have a brush for us?" Kagami asked.

"Sure." Tsukasa rummaged a bit in her back and handed her sister a brush.

"Thanks." Both girls said.

Konata and Kagami were brushing their hairs for the next minutes. The remaining time, until the train arrived 45 minutes later at the destination, the four were chatting, mainly about their agenda of the first day in Yokohama. At the final station, they exited the train and thanks to a perfectly prepared Miyuki, they quickly found the right way to their hotel.

* * *

.

The next chapter of the chapter-spam. It's probably the last one which is getting spammed because the next two chapters are having over 20k words together. Even worse, I don't really like the next two chapters, especially the second one and so I have to change a lot stuff…

Argh… I just want to get to chapter 16 already. The hyping is probably going to be bad for me but I'm having so much fun with writing it because it's so different and I'm going all out on the character. Looking at the older chapters then is so depressing…

For the next chapter, I guess it's content is quite obvious… I only went way too overboard and so I have to edit some stuff out and that could take a while.

Good thing is, I'm going to have two weeks of holiday related free time soon and so I will probably have ch.14, 15 and 16 ready until the end of the month. (Probably)


	14. Yokohama

The four had safely arrived in Yokohama and reached their hotel after a short walk. Miyuki went to the reception to check in and Konata decided to follow her a couple moments later.

"Can we just leave our stuff here for now and inspect the room when we come back? I want to get going right away." Konata was pretty eager already.

"That would be no problem. We'll transport your luggage to your room and when you come back from your trip, you can get the keys here." The receptionist explained.

"Sounds good." Konata answered and then told Kagami and Tsukasa. The girls left their luggage at the reception and left to explore the city

"How do we get to the Ferris wheel thing, Miyuki? Cosmo… something?" Konata had forgotten about the amusement park's name already.

"It's Cosmo World, Izumi-san. It's at the harbor, just a short bus ride from here." Miyuki explained.

"Let's go then."

"I think it would be better to wait with the amusement park. I've read that it's way better when it's starting to get dark because of the rather impressive lightning there."

"Oh… I see."

"Is there anything else nearby the park to pass the time until it's getting dark?" Tsukasa asked and Miyuki thought about it for a moment.

"Indeed, there are a few other attractions near it. There is a huge shopping center directly beside it, for example." She said.

"Shopping center, huh." Konata thought about it. "I hope they have some restaurants there. I'm starving." She exclaimed and exactly at this moment, Kagami's stomach made a huge growling noise and Konata started grinning.

"If you say something now, you're really going to regret it."

"Don't worry, Kagamin~, I'm hungry myself so it's okay." Konata reassured. "What Kagamins~ stomach wanted to tell you is, both of us hadn't eaten anything yet because we rushed to the train in the morning without having breakfast."

"And you still made fun of me." Kagami sighed. Konata just continued grinning without saying anything.

"Oh." Tsukasa said. "I would've probably already died without any food by now."

"I think the shopping center is perfect for you then." Miyuki added. "It has 6 floors and the first floor is more or less all about food and restaurants, even more on yet another floor."

"Let's go then." Kagami enthusiastically answered, almost shouting, and with sparks in her eyes.

"Calm down, Kagamin~! Your precious food isn't going to run away."

"S-Shut up, idiot." She got embarrassed again. "Or else, you're getting no food at all today."

"Oh, really? How are you going to accomplish that? Eating all the food on your own or what?" Konata teased. However, after looking at Kagami's face, she decided to run… fast.

"Wait you little annoying…" Kagami yelled after her and started chasing Konata.

"For not eating anything at all today, the two are sure lively." Miyuki looked after the fading figures.

"Have you ever seen onee-chan and Kona-chan not being all over each other like that?" Tsukasa asked.

"Well… I guess you have a point there." Miyuki nodded.

After about 5 minutes of chasing, the hunger won over the two girls and they let go of each other. The four took the bus to the stop at the shopping center and arrived about 15 minutes later.

"Wow, that really is a big shopping center." Tsukasa said in awe as they looked at the huge building.

"It is... I wonder if they sell mangas."

"Sadly, I suppose they do." Kagami sighed.

"Nice, let's get inside already. After a chase by a mean tsundere, I'm really on my last leg here. I need to get food now."

"Oi!"

The four went inside and the first thing they saw was a Japanese style Pasta Restaurant.

"Well, whatever, I'm fine with that so let's not look for another restaurant." Konata suggested.

"I'm absolutely fine with that." Kagami added. Miyuki and Tsukasa just nodded in agreement, they weren't that hungry anyway and couldn't care less what to eat.

They went inside and sat down. After a couple minutes of checking the menu, the four ordered different flavored spaghetti and half an hour later, they left the restaurant again. Konata and especially were a better mood again after they ate something. They decided to troll through the first floor of the shopping center. Just like Miyuki had advertised, the first floor was all about food and food related items. Restaurants, cafes, sweets, ice cream, sushi, fast food, bakeries, souvenirs and much more.

"Stop drooling, Kagamin~." Konata teased.

"W-What? I'm not drooling!" Kagami hissed, but out of reflex, she took her sleeve and wished her mouth with it.

"I know, but your reaction was quite nice." Konata continued until she felt a sharp pain on her head and Kagami started blowing her red fist. "Ouch!" Konata yelped.

"Serves you right, shut up now."

"Fine… Kagami-sama."

"Grr."

"How about we buy some presents if we're here already?" Tsukasa asked.

"I think we should wait with that until the last day." Miyuki replied.

"Yes, if we buy something to eat now… I'm sure it won't survive until Thursday, especially with…" Konata stopped.

"Go on, Konata." Kagami threatened and clenched her fist again after she saw Konatas excited face.

"Especially with food which spoils easily like that." Konata pointed at the first random food she saw near her. "And I don't want to carry it all day."

"You're pretty good at saving yourself, Konata." Kagami said as she smirked at her.

"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about, Kagamin~." She said so but her grinning told another story.

"Shut up and be happy that your head is safe for now." Kagami threatened again and Konata just nodded in response.

A couple moments later, after the two finished their arguing, the girls went to the next floor. It was a floor completely dedicated to fashion. Tsukasa's eyes immediately lit up as she dragged Miyuki in the first shop she saw, leaving behind a startled and confused Konata. Kagami just mustered a powerless sigh.

"So, uhm… Tsukasa likes fashion, I suppose?" Konata asked a few seconds later.

"Yup." Kagami simply nodded.

"And Miyuki was at the wrong place at the wrong time?"

"Looks like it." Kagami answered. "Unfortunately, due to experience, this could take some time, Konata."

"Yeah, I expected something like that already." Both sighed and slowly walked to the store where the other two disappeared into.

One and a half hour later, Tsukasa didn't show any sign of calming or slowing down anytime soon. Poor Miyuki had no chance at all to say anything. Konata and Kagami already gave up on following them, they sat down at an open café and watched the other two rushing from one shop to another while sipping some tea.

"Girls, huh?" Konata sighed. "Why are women always so obsessed with fashion?" She asked.

"Konata... Last time I checked, you were one yourself, too. Wait, I even think this isn't the first time we had this conversation."

"Oh yeah, thanks for pointing that out, Kagamin~."

"You're welcome."

"Wait." Konata suddenly added. "When did you check and more importantly, how?" She teased, causing Kagami to get flustered as usual.

"W-What? S-Shut up." She stuttered. "Y-You know what I mean."

"That's quite a reaction I get there." She continued her teasing.

"…"

"I get it Kagamin~, I was just joking. Don't get too upset." Konata tried to calm her down, mainly for her own good, though.

"I need a manual for." Kagami sighed.

"Oh, I would like to have one too." Konata added.

"For yourself or me?"

"Ehm… both."

"Tzz… but I get your point… I mean I also like to go shopping once in a while but this…"

"Yeah." Konata agreed. "But somehow I feel like we're the boyfriends who went shopping with her girlfriends and they left them because they got too bored."

"While I do get your point, there are way too many things wrong with this sentence and I don't even know where I should start..." Kagami shook her head is despair.

An entire hour later, Tsukasa and Miyuki finally finished and the four went to the third floor. Kagami and Konata quickly let out another sigh. Most of the stores on this floor were also clothing but fortunately, for the two, half of them were for men. It should take less time now… probably.

"Great." Both, Kagami and Konata, said in absolute sarcasm.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing. Have fun you two." Kagami answered and the two took her by the word. Well, Tsukasa did and Miyuki became once more collateral damage.

"Look Kagamin~, another café."

"Sounds good." She answered and both ordered some tea again.

45 minutes and three cups of tea later, Tsukasa and Miyuki came to the café. Tsukasa looked happy and Miyuki looked like she got involved in a car accident and the car dragged her for some miles under it.

"Finally." Konata mumbled.

"Found anything, sis?" Kagami asked.

"Not really, we were just looking." Tsukasa happily answered. Konata and Kagami went pale and started looking at each other. Konata then leaned a bit close to whisper something.

"Women, huh?" She joked. This time, Kagami didn't feel like saying anything. She just started laughing and Konata followed soon after.

"Is anything wrong Kagami-san? Izumi-san?" Miyuki was confused by it.

"No… nothing." Both answered.

"Maybe we should go to the next floor." Kagami suggested. "I think we spent enough time here."

"I think that's a good idea, but we can probably skip the fourth floor because there is only stuff like furniture and interior designs." Miyuki explained.

The four took the elevator to the fifth floor and after exiting it again, Konata got happier in an instant.

"Finally." She cheered. "Finally an anime store."

"Great." Kagami sighed.

"Take your time, Izumi-san. I need a break anyway from all the walking earlier." Miyuki was already looking for something to sit on.

"I'll wait here with Yuki-chan." Tsukasa added and Konata disappeared into the store.

"Well… maybe they have some light novels." Kagami said as she followed Konata inside.

The two took not even 15 minutes and Konata looked really disappointed.

"Man, that store really is no good at all." She uttered.

"The light novel section was also no good." Kagami added. "Only stuff I'm absolutely not interested in and no, Konata, I don't need a commentary for that."

"…" She hadn't even the chance to say a single word.

"Don't worry, Kona-chan, I found something else you may be interested in." Tsukasa tried to cheer her up.

"Oh, what is it?"

"Look, over there." Tsukasa pointed at a shop at the end of the floor.

"I-Is that a Cosplay store?" Konata wasn't expecting that.

"Yes, Yuki-chan and I already took a quick peek. Can we go inside? I saw some princess like looking costumes I want to see." Tsukasa was excited again.

"U-Uhm sure." Konata wasn't sure how to react.

"Yay." Tsukasa started going in and dragged Miyuki behind her.

"Let's go, Kagamin~." Konata said. "Kagamin~?" She asked as she saw that she wasn't following her.

"I really don't want to go in there." She whispered.

"Kagamin~, we both know you want."

"No, I don't." She answered, but her usual blush, even though it was small, said something different.

"Kagamin~, you'll get only more suspicious to the two if you don't go in."

"Fine." Kagami sighed in defeat. "But if you do something suspicious, you know the consequences, right?"

"Yes!" Konata acknowledged the warning.

Konata and Kagami finally followed the other two in the Cosplay store.

"Look at that, Kona-chan." Tsukasa pointed at a frilly pink princess outfit. "Can you try the outfits on?"

"Yes, looks like over there are cabins." Konata answered and looked at Tsukasa in disbelief as she quickly went inside one.

"Thanks." She yelled and Konata then leaned towards Kagami once more.

"Looks like that's a family thing, huh Kagamin~?" She teased, Kagami then put an arm around Konatas neck in response and tried to suffocate her. "Okay okay, I give up. Spare me!" She yelped.

"Good for you."

4 minutes later, Tsukasa stepped out of the cabin. She was wearing the pink princess outfit, including a tiara and a little wand. Kagami started blushing in embarrassment just by looking at her. Konata was obviously smiling broadly, at both Tsukasa and the expression of Kagami. Miyuki just looked a bit confused.

"And?" Tsukasa eagerly asked.

"Ehm… what do you want to hear?" Kagami just wanted to hide in a hole.

"You look great, Tsukasa, you could wear that every day." Konata cheered. "Magical girl totally works with you, but please don't go and sign any contracts!"

"I have to agree that it looks good on you Tsukasa-san but I don't think you should wear it every day." Miyuki partially agreed.

"Miyuki, she was only joking." Kagami said. "I at least hope, but yeah, it suits you perfectly, sis."

"Aww, thank you."

Tsukasa changed back to her original clothes and returned the outfit. The four decided to look individually at some other outfits. Kagami hesitated a bit, but then also to a look through the store. She occasionally stopped at some outfits, which looked like they caught her attention. Konata, on the other hand, had no intention to look at the outfits at all. She had a much better plan, Konata decided to hide as she sneakily followed Kagami. She took notes of every outfit Kagami spent more than 5 seconds looking at. After a couple outfits and minutes, she felt satisfied and stopped with a decent list.

"Found something, Kagamin~." Konata teased and Kagami's face immediately went red again.

"N-No, of course not. I wasn't even looking at them. Why should I in the first place, anyway?" She was denying everything with all her might.

"I see." Konata tried to remain serious.

The girls then went out. Miyuki and Tsukasa walked in front and the other two were slowly following behind them.

"Oh, by the way, Kagamin~." Konata suddenly said. "Look at this." She handed Kagami a handwritten list. Her face went immediately redder and she stopped walking.

"W-Wh-What is that?"

"Oh, it's nothing important." Konata said. "I was just watching you a bit earlier and took a note of every single outfit you were looking at."

"W-Why would you do that." Her face was getting redder.

"That's pretty easy. Preparation and a warning for my next revenge."

"I see." Kagami said before realizing. "Wait, why? Why that again."

"That's also pretty easy." Konata said. "You were unbelievably embarrassed and cute, but that's another story."

"C-Cute? Wait, that's not important at all now. You really want to die, don't you?"

"It's a good death, it's ok." She teased.

"Good to hear, it relieves me quite a bit." Kagami teased back and then inched closer to Konata and started playfully choking her again.

Miyuki and Tsukasa were looking at them all the time. Although, because of the distant, they didn't hear a thing what the two talked about.

"Izumi-san and Kagami-san are really good friends, don't you think so, too?" Miyuki asked Tsukasa. ' _I really would like to know what they were talking about.'_

"Yes, and I think they are getting better friends from day to day." Tsukasa said. "The two really would make a good couple."

"Huh?" Miyuki wasn't expecting that from Tsukasa. "W-What did you say?"

"I was just joking, Yuki-chan." Tsukasa laughed.

"I see." Miyuki dryly answered. "By the way, while we're on that topic. D-Do you have something against that sort of thing?" She asked and started fidgeting a bit.

"Against what?" Tsukasa cluelessly asked.

"You uhm… know... two girls and..." Miyuki felt too embarrassed to speak in a full sentence.

"Oh, that, no. Why would I?" Tsukasa answered without any hesitation at all and her innocent eyes only proved her sincerity more. "Wait, do you?"

"No no, I just felt like asking because I got suddenly curious about it after what you said earlier." Miyuki said. _'That's good to her at least, if my feeling is right, that is.'_

"What are you two talking about?" Kagami asked as the two let go of each other and caught up to them.

"N-Nothing." Miyuki quickly answered.

"Just about you two." Tsukasa said.

"I see. Wait, huh?"

"Just about how you two are acting all the time."

"Well." Kagami sighed. "I just can't find any other way to handle her."

"But you still are good friends."

"Yeah, she has her good moments once in a while." Kagami reluctantly admitted

"Oi!" Konata interjected.

"And then there's that." Kagami teased.

"Looks like Kagamin~ is getting hungry again." She teased back. "Miyuki, is there any food on this floor?"

"I'm not hungry, idiot." Kagami hissed.

"Actually, there is something here." Miyuki completely ignored her.

"Don't side up with her, Miyuki!" Kagami got a bit angry.

"Where?" Konata also ignored her. "I only see some crane games."

"That's it." She declared. "Look closer, it's a crane game where the prizes are cakes instead of figures or similar things."

"Did you just say what I think you said?" Konata asked in disbelief. "Kagamin~, this is perfect for us!"

"Here she goes." Kagami rolled her eyes. "And why is this perfect for us?"

"Easy." Konata retorted. "I love crane games and you love sweets."

"Tsukasa is the one who loves sweets, not me."

"That love is different." She assured.

"Then enlighten me, o great otaku master."

"Good one, Kagamin~... Tsukasa loves making sweets and you love eating them." She explained.

"Sounds about right." Tsukasa suddenly butted in. Both Konata and she herself were trying not to laugh.

"So no one is on your side here, huh?" Kagami asked.

"We all are… you just don't like your side." Konata answered. Kagami sighed once more.

"Fine, get me some cake if you stay silent then."

"Yay."

The four went inside and tried their luck. Sadly, three out of four girls weren't lucky. Miyuki gave up pretty quick and Tsukasa followed soon after her. Kagami's fighting spirit did cost her a lot of money, but finally, she also gave up. Konata, on the other hand, needed only two 'training tries' and she knew how it works. After said training, she got every cake she and the other girl wanted with ease. Kagami ate way more cake than she wanted to admit.

"Happy now?" Konata teasingly asked.

"Shut up."

"Ah, good, looks like it."

"…" The sinister glare came back.

"Is there anything else we can do here, Yuki-chan?" Tsukasa asked.

"There's a miniature golf court on the roof we could try."

"What? That's a pretty cool shopping center." Kagami said.

"Yeah, but the manga and anime department in it is pretty bad."

"Like I said, pretty cool shopping center." She repeated herself.

"And yet you followed me inside of the store." Konata teased. "Wait, don't answer and let's just go to the roof."

"Good idea." She stopped glaring at Konata.

The four went to the rooftop. The game took about one and a half hour, Kagami tried to make a joke with Konata and _miniature_ golf. She regretted it tough, Konata just used it for a free pass to tease the tsundere. Kagami may have improved her teasing but Konata is still no match for her. Final score: 4. Tsukasa, 3. Miyuki, 2. Kagami, 1 Konata. This only annoyed Kagami more even though _'being small helps with small things'_ was one of her better comebacks. The sun started setting at the end of the game and so the girls decided to go to the amusement park.

"Wow, the Ferris wheel is huge!" Tsukasa said in awe as she was looking up as they arrived there.

"It is but I suggest that we go on it at last, when it's really dark. I think with all the lights of the city, it will look way better." Miyuki suggested.

"Sounds like a plan." Kagami agreed.

"So, what first?"

"The whitewater ride is the nearest, I think."

"I want to sit in the front!" Tsukasa shouted.

"Gladly!" The other three girls immediately agreed to it.

"Uhm… is something wrong with the front seat?" She asked.

"No, nothing." They answered.

"Suspicious."

 _'Poor Tsukasa.'_ Miyuki and Kagami thought.

 _'Airheads… always good for a show.'_ Konata wasn't that nice.

The four entered and the ride was mostly rather easy going, except from two slopes. The first one was not that high, or fast, and so nothing happened there. The second slope, on the other hand, was quite a bit higher. Because of that, the water splashed way higher. Fortunately, Konata, Kagami, and Miyuki were shielded from the splashing water. Unfortunately, Tsukasa was said shield.

"You knew what was going to happen, didn't you?" Tsukasa wailed at the other three.

"No, of course not." Konata protested against the accusation.

"We're sorry Tsukasa."

"It's okay… I didn't get that wet."

"I guess we should get some cotton candy. It's my treat, Tsukasa." Konata felt just a little bad.

"Yay." She cheered up instantly.

In the end, Konata ended up paying for all four.

"Somehow… I treat you pretty often when we're outside, aren't I Kagamin~?" Konata suddenly asked.

"Why should I say no, if you make the offer?"

"I guess that's true."

"If it helps, I can return the favor someday." Kagami offered.

"Sounds good, even though I don't mind."

"Then not." She teased.

"Kagamin~."

"I'm just joking."

"You're getting better with the teasing, not sure if I like it. I feel like you'll become quite scary in the future if you keep going like that…" Konata said.

"Well, it's not like I'm going to stop." Kagami answered.

"Thought that much." She sighed.

"I have to keep up with you somehow." Kagami teased. Konata laughed and then looked at Miyukis confused face.

"When Kagami stayed at my place we sometimes ended up eating ramen or stuff like that somewhere because either Kagami blew up the kitchen or we were just lazy." Konata explained.

"Oh, I see…" Miyuki answered.

"Oi!" Kagami pouted. "I never actually blew up the kitchen."

"But you were close and close is enough. 'Close' is even a stretch already if you ask me…"

"Well…" She tried to retort something but…

"Kagamin~."

"Oh, let's go to the rollercoaster over there." Kagami quickly changed the subject.

"I-I don't know if I like rollercoasters." Tsukasa got a bit scared.

"It actually looks quite normal. It doesn't even have a looping… I guess you should be fine." Konata said after looking at it.

"I guess that's true. Loopings are the scariest thing after all." She answered.

The girls went on the rollercoaster and just as Konata said before, it had no loopings. However, the ride was quite fast, it had some sharp corners, and it even dived into a dark hole in an artificial lake, which scared Tsukasa quite a bit. The four exited the coaster again, Kagami and Konata looked unaffected, but Miyuki was a bit wobbly and Tsukasa was completely pale and had difficulties with walking in a straight line.

After taking a short break, the four ended up in a corner full of attractions like spinning coasters and similar things. They stopped in front of something that had caught their interest. It had some loose similarities with a Ferris wheel, but there were some major differences. It starts in a horizontal position and slowly tilts vertically while constantly spinning itself very fast. The cabins are locked in place. The passengers were doing constant loopings in it because of that. Miyuki gulped and looked away and Tsukasa turned not only pale, but rather complete white as a sheet after looking at it, but Konata looked with sparks in her eyes at Kagami.

"I'll pass on that one." Tsukasa whimpered.

"Me too." Miyuki added.

"Konata, I don't think I can stand spinning things that much myself." Kagami had lost her confidence.

"Aww, you're going to be fine, let's go." Konata shouted, grabbed Kagami's arm and dashed off.

"Poor onee-chan." Tsukasa whispered to herself.

The ride only took about three minutes, but it looked like hell from the outside and felt like it from the inside. Tsukasa almost fainted just by looking at Kagami and Konata inside the attraction. The two were visible trembling after they exited it and both were pale and looking a bit sick. It was harder than Konata thought.

"Are you two okay?" Miyuki asked.

"You look terrible." Tsukasa added.

"T-Thanks, Tsukasa." Konata answered as she was completely shaken.

"J-Just let us sit down a bit." Kagami wasn't better if no worse.

"Okay." Miyuki answered.

Both sat down on a nearby bench and immediately slumped down and leaned onto each other, their head slightly tilted while resting on each other's side.

"Do you need anything?" Miyuki asked. 'T _hey're doing it on purpose, aren't they?'_

"Something to drink would be nice." Kagami said.

"Yeah, me too." Konata added.

"I'm going to get something." Tsukasa said and went to a nearby shop.

"Thanks!" Both answered.

"I'm sorry, Kagamin~." Konata apologized.

"Huh?"

"You said you didn't want to and I still forced you."

"Ah, that… I'm already used to it, don't worry about it."

"But..."

"And seeing you like this right now is satisfying enough." Kagami teased.

"There goes my concern, but, well, looks like I'm not really good with spinning stuff either."

"Yeah, that thing was way too extreme."

"I don't feel like riding stuff at all right now…"

"Me neither… definitely not!" Kagami nodded. "Even though seeing you pale is interesting." She went back to teasing.

"And if you can't hold it… you may lose some weight."

"Uhm."

"Yeah."

"No spinning stuff." Both said in unison and started laughing.

"Ah, the two are back to normal already." Tsukasa said as she came back. "Good to see you two like that again."

"You need more than that to break us, Tsukasa." Konata joked.

"Absolutely." Kagami added.

"What are we going to do now?" Tsukasa asked.

"Something that doesn't move!" Konata and Kagami immediately answered.

"So much for that." Tsukasa teased as she tried to surpass her laughter.

"We could go to the arcade." Miyuki suggested.

"Sounds good."

The four went to the arcade games and Konata once more proved her crane game abilities. Tsukasa was now an owner of a complete new plush animal collection. Afterward, all four tried various other arcade and party games.

"I guess we can go to the Ferris wheel now. It's quite dark by now, the light effect should work pretty well." Miyuki explained.

"Looks like a plan. I also start to get pretty tired from all the walking so it's probably a good thing." Konata answered.

"Yeah, me too." Kagami agreed.

The girls slowly made their way to the Ferris wheel and boarded a cabin. The ride was really slow and after about ten minutes, their cabin finally reached the highest spot of the Ferris wheel. It was almost completely dark outside. Miyuki and Tsukasa looked towards the city skyline and the remaining amusement park. The complete city was full of different lights from the buildings and the streets beneath it. The park beside the Ferris wheel was also like an ocean of colorful lights, with orange dominating it. Kagami and Konata were looking at the different side, the bay. The two saw some brightly illuminated piers, a small coast with a few ships cruising on the water and a huge bridge in the distance, connecting an island with the mainland. The water in the bay was reflecting all sorts of light, which made it looks like it would glow.

"Wow, it really was a good idea to wait until it became dark, Yuki-chan." Tsukasa said in awe while looking at all the lights.

"Yes, the view is really astonishing." Miyuki nodded.

"These lights, there are so many and it's so beautiful."

"It really is." Miyuki was still nodding at Tsukasa.

"And…" Tsukasa started while she turned around and looked at the direction Konata and Kagami was looking. "The coast is even more beautiful, right onee-chan, Kona-chan?" She asked. A few moments, after Kagami noticed that someone is talking to her, she snapped out of her trance.

"Yes, it really is." She responded.

"And it looks really romantic!" Tsukasa dreamily added.

"The only problem is that none of us is even remotely near any romantic stuff at all, right Kagamin~?" Konata teasingly said while playfully poking her elbow in Kagami's side.

"Yeah." Kagami admitted. "But you're as far from as I, so I'm good with it." Kagami teased back, also poking Konata in the side.

 _'Seriously...'_ Was the only thing Miyuki could think about. ' _Either I'm reading way too much between the lines… or the two are blind.'_

"Well, having good friends is great too." Tsukasa chimed in.

"That's true." All other answered.

After the ride in the Ferris wheel was finished, they started walking towards their hotel. It was a rather warm evening and so the girls decided not to take the bus. On the way, Tsukasa found a ramen shop.

"Can we eat something there? I'm hungry from all the walking."

"Oh yes, I'm quite hungry too." Miyuki added.

"Sure." Konata answered. "Hey Kagamin~, our usual ramen stop in the evening before heading home?"

"Yeah, I could eat something." Kagami answered. "Hey for your whining earlier, how about I treat you this time."

"I wasn't whining at all Kagamin~!" Konata whined again. "But sure, why not."

After they finished eating, the four girls arrived at the hotel and Miyuki received the room key at the reception. They took the elevator to the fifth floor where their room was located in and entered it. The room was rather large because it was designed for a family with four people. Despite the bathroom, it had a small living room and behind it, there were two bedrooms. Konata entered one of them and immediately made herself comfortable on a rather large bed.

"Okay, this is so my bed." Konata declared and Miyuki came back from the other room.

"I think we have a slight problem here."

"What is it?" Kagami asked.

"This room is designed for a family."

"And what's wrong with that?" Tsukasa didn't understand the problem.

"We only have three beds. Two normal sized in the other room and this big one here, which is apparently made for two people." Miyuki explained.

"Oh, I see."

"So, to wrap it up, two people have to share this bed." She pointed out.

"Well, I already declared this one to be mine." Konata restated her declaration. "But I'm willing to share it with my Kagamin~."

"Why me?" Kagami immediately asked.

"Why not." Konata teased.

"And what if I don't want to?" She started protesting a little.

"Well, if you go all tsun on me, I guess I have to choose someone else. Tsukasa looks quite cuddly if you ask me." She playfully said.

"Uhm…" Tsukasa got caught up in it again.

"Fine, I get it… I'll stay, but if you do anything weird in the night, you know what's going to happen, right?" Kagami warned.

 _'Wait, did she became jealous when Izumi-san mentioned Tsukasa-san?'_ Miyuki was looking at them from the sidelines.

"Yay!" Konata cheered. "Kagamin~, you know that I am not the one who does the wei..."

"S-Shut up, idiot." Kagami almost yelled.

"You know I don't mind it." Konata teased.

"I said shut up!"

"As you wish, o great Kagami-sama."

"…"

"I guess we should go check out our beds now. Let's go, Yuki-chan." Tsukasa decided the let the two alone.

"Sure, Tsukasa-san." Miyuki answered.

The two left the room and went to their own bedroom.

"Do you think that will work?" Miyuki suddenly asked.

"What?" Tsukasa replied.

"Izumi-san and Kagami-san sharing a bed." She specified. "I mean they're maybe good friends and all but I fear that Izumi-san may overdo her teasing."

"Ah, that." Tsukasa understood what she meant. "I think it's going to be fine. After all, it's not the first time and by what Kona-chan told me, onee-chan is more…" She stopped.

"What is it?" She asked.

"Uhm… I kind of promised Kona-chan not to talk about it, sorry." Tsukasa apologized.

"Oh, okay. But as long as it works with the two then it's good, I guess."

"Yeah, Kona-chan was apparently also positively surprised by something."

"Well then, looks we don't have to worry." Miyuki concluded. _'These two are killing me.'_

Tsukasa and Miyuki in one, and Kagami and Konata in the other bedroom kept talking for a while until they all decided to go to sleep.

….

The next day, the four girls were having their breakfast in the hotel own restaurant. It was in the form of a buffet and as usual, when it comes to buffets, the girls vastly overloaded their plates, except for Miyuki that is.

"Buffets sure are nice." Tsukasa cheerfully looked at her plate.

"They really are." Kagami agreed.

"That's true, but be careful, Kagamin~." Konata teased.

"Shut up."

"Having a big variety to choose is really something nice." Miyuki concluded.

"How did you two sleep? Anything special happened?" Tsukasa asked while looking at Konata and Kagami. "Our beds were great, right Miyuki?"

"Yes, they are very comfortable." Miyuki nodded in agreement.

"Well, the bed is okay, I guess." Konata answered. "Besides that, everything that happened was pretty normal, right Kagamin~?" She added in a very teasingly voice and for some unknown reason, Kagami immediately started blushing.

"Yeah." Kagami sighed. "Nothing out of the ordinary happened." She said and starting blushing even more. Tsukasa first looked confused at her bigger sister and then looked at the smiling Konata and had an idea of what happened and smiled herself.

"So… to change the subject, what are we going to do today?" Konata asked.

"Good question, Kona-chan… I totally forgot about it already." Tsukasa admitted.

"You two really have a bad memory."

"We have Miyuki, so no need for it anyway."

"Yeah, that's true." Kagami agreed. "Or! Just shut up…"

"Hmm." Konata was thinking of a comeback but she decided against it. "So, Miyuki?"

"Ehm..." Miyuki snapped back out of her thoughts. "First, we wanted to go to the zoo and if we have time afterward, we wanted to go to a Park."

"Oh!" Tsukasa gasped. "The zoo! How could I forget that?" She immediately got way too excited again. "Let's go. Now!"

"Calm down, Tsukasa!"

"The zoo is still closed at that time, we have enough time." Miyuki explained.

Half an hour later, the four left the hotel and took the bus to the zoo. At the destination, Miyuki got the tickets and the girls entered the zoo. Konata and Kagami were constantly trying to calm down Tsukasa because she was really hyperactive and quite a pain but ultimately, they failed. The first station after entering an Asian, tropical forest theme. It contained animals like lions, elephants, tigers, leopards and different types of monkeys.

"A private tiger at home would be pretty cool." Konata said as the four stood in front of the cage, watching two tigers sleeping on a stone.

"You can't keep tigers in a normal home, Izumi-san." Miyuki answered.

"Why? They are just big cats, aren't they?"

"Yeah, big cats who can rip your head off in like, two seconds." Kagami hissed.

"Actually, they need about eight seconds to completely disconnect a head from the body." Miyuki corrected.

"Miyuki." Kagami sighed. "You know, I really envy your knowledge sometimes, but do you really think it makes a big difference if the tiger needs two or eight seconds?"

"No, I suppose not."

"And what is about these ehm… clouded leopards?" Konata looked at the sign as they approached the next compound. "They are smaller, almost just like big cats and they look somewhat tame."

"What's up with you and cats?" Kagami asked.

"I like them, is that a problem?"

"No, not really... Unless you want a cat who is capable of eating you. That would be a problem."

"Aww, Kagamin~ is concerned about my life. That's nice…"

"S-Shut up. No one wants anyone to get eaten." Kagami mumbled.

"Actually..." Miyuki interjected again. "Clouded leopard in captivity are often tame and even a bit playful towards humans they know."

"See Kagamin~?" Konata teased.

"But." Miyuki continued. "These leopards are extremely endangered and so it isn't a very good idea to have one at home."

"See Konata?" Kagami teased back.

"But they are really cute!" Tsukasa interjected. "I wouldn't mind having one either… Too bad they are endangered."

The last stop in the area, after watching some lions, monkeys and other small animals were some elephants.

"Wow, they are so tall and fat." Tsukasa was impressed.

"They really are." Miyuki agreed. For some reason, Konata and Kagami stayed silent. Both looked like they wanted to say something and laugh at the same time, but desperately tried holding back.

"Is something wrong, Kona-chan, onee-chan?"

"No, nothing... These 'tall' elephants are just interesting." Kagami answered.

"Absolutely, these 'fat' elephants really are interesting." Konata added. The two then exchanged some glares at each other, still trying not to laugh and then looked bag at Miyuki and Tsukasa and started walking to the next group of animals.

"These two..." Tsukasa playfully said.

"Indeed." Miyuki added.

The four arrived at the next theme group, subarctic forest animals. Like the name suggested, it was full of animals who are living in colder areas. Animals like penguins, seals, polar bears, snow owls, pheasants, otters and red pandas.

"Wow!" Tsukasa suddenly yelled. "These red pandas! How can an animal be this cute?"

"Calm down" Kagami sighed. "Although I have to admit they really are cute."

"Can you…" Konata started.

"I'm afraid not, Izumi-san. Red pandas are also slightly endangered, so no, you can't keep one of these either."

"Aww."

"Why are all the cute animals endangered?" Tsukasa innocently asked.

"Trust me, sis, you really don't want to know why." Kagami didn't want to destroy her innocence.

"Oh, okay."

After some time, they abandoned the red pandas again and looked at the pheasants and some other birds and otters until they stopped at the penguins.

"Onee-chan!"

"What now, Tsukasa?" Kagami was a bit startled from by sudden yelling.

"I want a penguin."

"Ehm…"

"We could keep them in our pond behind the house."

"I don't think my goldfish would like that."

"I'm sure your goldfish and my penguin would become best friends."

"Yeah, I really think your penguin would like the goldfish." Konata interjected. "Although not as a friend and more like dinner."

"Nobody is going to eat him!" Kagami yelled.

"Calm down Kagamin~." Konata said. "The chances of Tsukasa getting a penguin are rather low."

"It is, Izumi-san." Miyuki answered. "Penguins need a cold water temperature and a cold temperature overall, so the normal Japanese garden isn't a good habitat."

"Aww, that's too bad." Tsukasa wept.

"Though I have to admit that the penguin would really love your fish, Kagami-san." Miyuki couldn't help herself.

"I repeat: Nobody eats him!"

"Calm down already, Kagamin~! The only threat he has to fear is your own hunger."

"Shut up, idiot."

"Ah, she has calmed down." Konata smiled.

After they left the penguins, Tsukasa and the others stopped at the polar bears.

"Even polar bear are somewhat cute."

"Really?" Kagami tilted her head. "I think they are just scary." Just in this moment, a big polar bear emerged out of the water directly before the window, where Tsukasa was standing and bared his teethes. Tsukasa immediately stepped back and almost started crying.

"That's some timing..." Konata was pretty amazed by the polar bear.

"I-I guess you're right with the s-scary part, onee-chan." Tsukasa was really scared.

"Poor Tsukasa."

The girls continued after Tsukasa had calmed down. The next two areas contained animals from Australia and central Asia, but the four went rather quickly through the areas because most of the animals weren't cute in Tsukasa's eyes. The only exceptions were made when Konata was intimating a kangaroo, which was quickly stopped by an annoyed Kagami as her fist made contact with Konatas head. Obviously, Tsukasa wanted to adopt said kangaroo, but the rest went smoothly.

They took a short break on a bench and then they reached an area where animals living in the Japan countryside were shown. Animals like storks, leopard cats, Japanese badgers, red foxes, black bears and macaques. They knew most of the animals already, because of that, the girls went to the Amazon Jungle, and the African rain forest area. Tsukasa wanted to adopt at least half of the animals shown there. Kagami and Konata started to look tired because of the constant cheerful and hyperactive little sister. Miyuki happily explained every animal Tsukasa wanted to know about. After about an hour, the girls finished the zoo tour and went to the restaurant at the end of it to eat lunch.

"Wow, the zoo was really awesome." Tsukasa cheered. "So many cute animals... I really want all of them."

"And again, calm down, Tsukasa." Kagami sighed once more. "You can't have them, especially because a lot of them are dangerous and/or close to extinction."

"But that's not fair, why would they show only animals you can't have yourself?" Tsukasa complained.

"Ehm Tsukasa." Konata started. "Isn't that the point of the whole zoo thing?."

"That's so unfair." Tsukasa pouted.

"Well, I have to admit that I wouldn't say no to one of these leopards..."

"But that's not happening." Kagami interjected. "So Tsukasa, be happy you saw them and tomorrow, you can see even more animals at the aquarium."

"Yay, the aquarium!" She cheered up. "Fishes are better anyway…" She added. Konata and Kagami simultaneously sighed again.

"I don't think I can survive another day with a hyperactive and overly cheerful airhead." Konata complained.

"Don't call my sister an airhead." Kagami hissed and then started whispering. "Although… I can see your point, this day was super tiring."

"Izumi-san, Kagami-san, I think the aquarium has some attractions you're going to like. It's not just fish tanks there. They are many shows and they even have a little theme park with rides, just like an amusement park.

"How big is this place?" Konata asked.

"It's a whole artificial island, which was just created for the aquarium." Miyuki explained.

"Wow!" Tsukasa was amazed. "The people here really know how to make awesome places."

"I think I'll just start running to the other end of the island as fast as I can tomorrow." Konata joked.

"Wait for me then." Kagami answered, but she wasn't joking.

"Sure thing."

"Well, I'm pretty interested in fishes too, if you two get bored at some time, we can split up and you two can have some fun at the amusement park while Tsukasa-san and I watch some more fishes." Miyuki came up with a plan.

"Sound good to me." Konata agreed to the proposal.

"We will see tomorrow but yeah." So did Kagami.

"As long as I can see the fishes, I don't care." Tsukasa had her priorities already sorted out.

"By the way, we should get going now. It's still rather early and so we can easily make it to the park is was talking about."

"Okay." The other three girls agreed to Miyuki's idea.

….

The girls entered the bus from the zoo station to the garden and entered the park there.

"By the way, what's this park about? Anything special to see here?" Konata got a little interested

"It's styled after a traditional Japanese garden." Miyuki explained. "It resembles greatly the style of Kyoto so much you could even think you were there instead of Yokohama, with the traditional houses, ponds, rivers and such."

"That's wikipe… ehm Miyuki for you."

"I made some preparations before we left." She shyly admitted.

"And we love you for that." Konata reassured her.

"Uhm, thank you." Miyuki bowed slightly.

"Let's get going already." Kagami ended the conversation.

"Sure."

They finally entered the park, the first thing they saw, was a huge pond and after crossing a small bridge, which covered a part of the pond, the girls arrived at an old shrine. After a small inspection of the shrine, they kept walking alongside the pond to the next building. It was another traditional Japanese building and it was really old. Miyuki seemed greatly interested in the architecture, but Tsukasa was looking at the pond for fishes and birds instead and Konata and Kagami weren't really interested in either of those things and just kept tagging along slightly behind them.

The four arrived at a greener area with a lot of flowers and trees after some more walking and more traditional build houses in various sizes. Most of the flowers were still blooming and because of that, the area looked absolutely beautiful, especially with the pond in sight.

"Wow, Yokohama is a really cool city." Tsukasa said.

"That's true." Miyuki agreed. "The difference between these traditional things and the actual modern city with all the action in it is really nice."

"Yep, pretty cool." Konata nodded

"It is…" Kagami also agreed but her voice sounded a bit forced.

"Is something wrong Kagamin~?" Konata asked.

"No, not really, why?"

"I don't know… I kind of just felt like asking."

"I see, don't worry about it."

"Okay."

They continued walking for about an hour while looking at more buildings, making some stops at other ponds and rivers to enjoy the beautiful view and at the end of the walk, they even participated in a traditional tea ceremony. Another 30 minutes later, the four were back in their hotel.

"Man, I really need a bath now." Kagami complained.

"Yeah, you smell like an entire zoo." Konata teased.

"If it wasn't true, you would be in big trouble now." Kagami warned. "Besides, you smell exactly the same."

"Yeah, I wonder why." She joked.

"That's true. I guess that we spent an entire day at an actual zoo has nothing to do with it."

"Yep, that can't be it."

"These two really have their own dynamic." Miyuki said.

"That's true." Tsukasa nodded. "Most of the time I can't even keep up with them."

The four girls took turns and were quickly done with their baths. They were all sitting on the bed from Konata and Kagami now and chatted about the past two days until Konata had an idea.

"Hey, remember the sleepover at my house where we arranged our hair in ponytails?" Konata suddenly asked.

"Sure." Tsukasa answered.

"Yeah… how could I forget that? Please, tell me because I tried…" Kagami sighed as she remembered the sleepover where Konata had forced her to try out a ponytail only to laugh at her instantly afterward and even worse, her own sister did the same. Tsukasa and Konata let out a small giggle.

"I think I wasn't present at that time." Miyuki said.

"Yes, I don't remember why, but you had something to do on that day." Konata explained. "And that's why I'm bringing it up. I want to see you with a ponytail."

"Why?"

"Because it's fun and I want to see Kagami with one again." Konata then teasingly looked at Kagami as she voiced her true motive.

"Why do I have to do it again? Wasn't the last time enough?" Kagami glared at Tsukasa and Konata who still were trying not to laugh at the memory of Kagami with a ponytail and her 'warrior' appearance.

"Come on Kagamin~, it's more fun with everyone."

"Yes." Tsukasa played along with Konata.

"Fine… but if you laugh again, there's going to be some severe punishment involved and you know what that means, right?" Kagami warned Konata who gulped in response.

"Yes." Konata answered packed out some hairbands she had got out of nowhere and handed them over to Miyuki who was the first.

"Hmm… Exactly as expected." Konata nodded as she looked at the Ponytail version of Miyuki. "Miyuki can wear whatever she wants and still looks way too good."

"I guess you have a point." Tsukasa and Kagami agreed after inspecting her hairstyle.

"Thank you." Miyuki shyly said and Tsukasa was next.

"My hair is way too short for it, exactly like last time." Tsukasa complained.

"Short ponytails are moe, don't worry about it."

"It's really kind of cute." Miyuki admitted and it was Konatas turn afterward.

"It really suits you, Izumi-san."

"Thanks."

"See? I said exactly the same last time." Tsukasa stated.

"Yeah, thanks." Konata acknowledged and then looked at Kagami, who was staring at her. "Is something wrong, Kagamin~?"

"Hmm? No, nothing." She mumbled. _'Hmm… something's different from last time. I didn't care at all back then, but now... It really does look good on her, even kind of cute. I really wouldn't mind seeing it more often. Wait…'_ Kagami snapped out of her thoughts. "I, too, have to admit that it does look rather good and would work on a daily basis."

"Wow!" Konata wasn't expecting this. "Such a compliment from Kagamin~! I'm touched, thank you very much." She was genuinely happy.

"Uhm… you're welcome, I guess?" She answered and then hesitantly made her own hair into a ponytail as she got the hairbands from Konata and then glared at the other girls. Tsukasa was about to lose it and started almost laughing and even Miyuki had a rather big smile on her lips. Konata on the other hand, got lost in her thoughts just like Kagami before.

 _'Huh? What's now broken?'_ She thought. _'I couldn't stop laughing at her warrior appearance last time, but now… it looks good. Huh? Really good on top of that... I thought I didn't like her ponytail at all? Weird... It's almost too good to look at…."_ She came back to reality.

"What?" Kagami hissed.

"Nothing. You can go back to normal now, Kagamin~. Somehow, I don't feel to laugh right now."

"Sure and thanks for not laughing." Kagami answered. _'That was weird.'_ She thought and went back to her twin tails.

"No problem, I guess…" Konata nodded.

"Maybe we should go to our room now, Tsukasa. It's getting late." Miyuki said so after staring a bit confused at them for some time.

"Yes, I don't want to be tired tomorrow at the aquarium!" Tsukasa and Miyuki left the room. Kagami and Konata also laid down on their bed, but kept chatting

"Maybe we should stay up long and oversleep tomorrow." Konata jokingly suggested.

"Nah, I think that would be too obvious."

"That's true, although I hadn't expected you to give it some actual thought."

"Well… I'm not that thrilled either. But hey, making Tsukasa happy is kind of a reward on its own." Kagami explained.

"Yeah… I get your point." Konata admitted. "Seeing her all cheerfully and active makes one feel good inside."

"Absolutely, I wouldn't have expected you to understand that."

"Well, I'm not that much of an alien to not like to see other people be happy."

"I didn't mean it like that, I'm sorry about that, Konata."

"It's okay. Besides, it's not only Tsukasa."

"Huh?" Kagami didn't understand nor did she expect that.

"It's kind of the same with the older twin. Remembering you all cheerful and happy when you made some progress in our cooking lessons gave me a similar feeling." Konata admitted and even started blushing a bit after these words and so did Kagami, just even more.

"I… ehm... I'm not really sure what to answer right now…"

"You don't have to… but teasing you is also fun."

"Thanks… that makes me feel much better now." Kagami sarcastically remarked. "But we have to do some more cooking soon, now that we're talking about."

"Sure." Konata answered. "As long as you don't burn down my house." She teased.

"I can't promise that, but I'll try." Kagami teased back.

"Oi!"

"Is something wrong?" Kagami playfully asked.

"No… absolutely not… I'm still not sure how I feel about your comebacks."

"Get used to them." Kagami was really strong today.

"Hmm… I'll try." Not that Konata had a saying in it.

"We should get some sleep now." Kagami suggested.

"Okay, sound like a plan."

"Thank you, Konata."

"Huh?" Now it was her time to be surprised.

"For the things you said about Tsukasa… and me. It really was nice of you."

"Well… I have my moments, I guess." Konata got a bit shy.

"For your information, seeing you get all happy and excited about your manga and all that stuff is also sometimes nice to watch. Except the moments you get too much into it and I don't get you at all anymore…" Kagami explained as she got embarrassed again but Konata wasn't much better.

"Thank you, that's nice to hear." Konata acknowledged. "But I think you're right. We should go to sleep now. You getting all dere and honest with me and me talking way too much is no good sign."

"Way to ruin it." Kagami teased. "But yeah, let's sleep." Both the almost immediately fell asleep after saying goodnight.

The next day, after some breakfast at the hotel, the four went to the aquarium park. Miyuki got the tickets. Followed by the lead of the very cheerful and excited Tsukasa, the girls entered the place. It's an artificial island in the middle of the bay of Yokohama. Tsukasa dragged the other girls to the first aquarium and became even more hyper.

"Onee-chan, can we get an aquarium?" Tsukasa's eyes were shining as she asked.

"Oh yeah, I wouldn't say no to a shark tank." Konata added.

"I don't think a polar bear tank would fit into your house, Izumi-san."

"Stop it with the sharks already and Miyuki, she was joking." Kagami sighed. "Wait, you were, right Konata? Right?"

"Sure." She answered, but she didn't sound like joking at all.

"And besides, Tsukasa probably meant a normal small fish tank."

"Yes. So, can we, onee-chan?"

"I'm your sister, not mom or dad. You have to ask them."

"I guess you're."

"But you could always get your own fish for our pond in the end."

"That's a good idea. Maybe I'll get one at the next festival."

"But don't get a small one or else Kagamin's will eat it." Konata interjected.

"Oi!" Kagami shouted. "But you may have a point there. I really need to get him on a diet…." She mumbled.

After some more tanks, the four arrived at a dolphin show. The dolphins were doing tricks like synchrone-swimming or jumping over obstacles or through rings in the air. Tsukasa eyes were wide and her smile reached both ears. She looked like a happy five-year-old. Kagami and Konata had fun watching her more than watching the dolphins. The show itself was fun, too, but the two were slowly getting bored.

Another armada of different tanks passed and the four ended at the place where they could interact with and even pet animals. There was no chance Tsukasa would miss that. Luckily, for her, she got a chance to pet a penguin. She looked so happy and excited that Konata thought for a moment that she would explode any minute now and decided to hide behind Kagami.

"Onee-chan, I don't want a penguin anymore." She said. "I NEED one!"

"Tsukasa…" Kagami shook her head. "I think we already talked about it yesterday, didn't we? You can't have one."

"But…"

"There is no but."

"But look at him." She pointed at the penguin, there's always a but. "He's so adorable and cute."

"Well… sure he his." Kagami admitted after looking at them. "But it's not possible."

"…" Tsukasa mumbled something no one could or should understand.

"Just be happy you could see one this close and even got to touch him." Kagami tried to cheer her up.

"I think I have no other choice." She admitted. "But he is soooo cuuute."

"What about you, Konata?" Kagami asked. "You're awfully quiet..."

"Well…" Konata pointed at a sign near her. 'Shark swimming – Swim together with real sharks in the same tank.'

"NO!" Kagami immediately yelled and startled the other girls a bit.

"What's wrong, Kagami-san?" Miyuki asked and Tsukasa just looked at her sister.

"Why not?" Konata wasn't happy with the reaction she got.

"I just really don't think it's a good idea." Kagami answered. "You and sharks together? No, that can't end well."

"So basically, you're scared that something will happen?" Konata asked.

"M-Maybe... but just a bit!" She actually admitted it, more or less, while her face was getting red.

"Oh my… Kagamin~ is scared that sharks could eat me. That's pretty sweet of you and unusually honest of you." Konata teased.

"S-Shut up, will you?" She got even more embarrassed. "Everyone would be concerned if some of your friends could be eaten by sharks. Especially when it's you, who is prone to end up in bad situations." She explained, only blushing harder and Konata couldn't find a comeback for some reason.

"Well… if you really don't want me to, I have to accept that." Konata said.

"Thank you, I really appreciate it." Kagami answered.

"But can we stop that talk now?" Konata asked. "It's somehow the same as yesterday evening again." She said while scratching the back of her head.

"You mean…" Kagami started but didn't finish her sentence.

"Yeah, the conversation about..."

"I get it." Kagami interjected. "Good idea… I even had a super weird dream afterward…"

"Really? Me too… super weird…"

"What were you talking about yesterday?" A cheerful, but oblivious Tsukasa asked after she watched the nervous conversation of the two together with Miyuki.

"Nothing important." Both answered instantly.

"And your dream?" She continued.

"N-Nothing! Nothing important at all!" Both immediately yelled afterward at the exact same time.

"Aww geez, you two and your secrets." Tsukasa pouted. "It's really no fun anymore." She complained right after.

"Sorry." Both answered.

"Maybe we should get going to the next aquarium." Miyuki suggested. _'I'm really getting more and more confused.'_ She thought at the same time.

"Got idea."

They went to look at several more tanks and suffered several 'cuteness-overload' attacks from Tsukasa. Kagami and Konata were at their limits, but it looked like they were nearing the end, or so they thought.

"Wahh!" Tsukasa suddenly yelled, startling the others yet again.

"Don't scare us like that." Kagami yelled equally loud back at her.

"I'm sorry. Onee-chan… I just looked at the guide again and saw we missed an entire area at the beginning."

"Oh, I see..." Kagami had a bad feeling already. "That's still no reason to yell like that."

"More fishes, huh." Konata equally sighed because she also knew what that would mean. "Hey Kagamin~, maybe we should go on with the idea from Miyuki yesterday. The two continue the tour de fish and we go with plan R." She suggested.

"Plan R?"

"R for run."

"Oh, that… Sounds like an idea." Kagami nodded. "Is that ok with you two?" She asked while looking at Miyuki and Tsukasa.

"Sure." Both replied and Konata and Kagami then quickly left for the nearby amusement park.

…

"I really couldn't see any more of these fishes." Konata complained.

"Yeah... I don't even want to eat fish for the time being." Kagami agreed.

"Oh…"

"Shut up."

The amusement park was a rather standard except for the fact that most attractions was water or fish themed. There were attractions like merry-go-rounds, roller coasters, wild water rides, but the biggest attraction was an over 100m tall free fall tower.

"Wow, the tower thing is really high." Konata said while turning her head towards the sky. "Let's go for it."

"Sure." Kagami agreed. "Oh, wait, it has a minimal height limit." She teased.

"Shut up." Konata pouted. "Also, it has a weight limit on top of that." She teased back.

"Oi! I'm not that fat." Kagami hissed.

"And I'm taller than 120cm." She glared at her.

"Okay fine..." It was Kagami's own fault. "Let's just go."

"Yes."

The two entered the tower and five minutes later, the ride was over again.

"Wow, I didn't expect you to scream that much." Konata teased.

"S-Shut up. I was just surprised at the sudden drop." Kagami defended herself.

"Aww, the cute little tsundere was scared." She continued.

"I said shut up."

"Soo cuuuteee. I…" Konatas teasing got forcefully interrupted by Kagami's anger or rather her fist that had almost split Konatas head in half once more. "Ouch!"

"You must've seen that one coming."

After calming down, the two went to the other attractions and a little over an hour later, Konata and Kagami were reunited with Miyuki and Tsukasa at a restaurant near the park. The four chatted about the day while eating.

"This place is sooo awesome." Tsukasa cheered. She was still hyperactive. "I didn't even know that so many different fishes exist in the first place."

"Yeah." Konata and Kagami nodded. They thought the same, but not in a positive way.

"How was the amusement park?" Miyuki asked.

"It was okay." Kagami answered.

"It was." Konata agreed. "You should've seen Kagamin~ on the free fall tower. She was screaming…"

"Shut up I said."

"Okay." Konata giggled.

They finished eating and the girls went back to the hotel because the aquarium took almost the entire day and they were really tired, especially Konata and Kagami. After some chatting in the hotel room, the four decided to go to sleep.

The next and last day in Yokohama. Due to the exhaustion from the previous day or rather days, all four overslept. It was almost noon and Tsukasa decided to leave her bed. She was standing in front of the door from Konata and Kagami room, who still hadn't left the room today.

"Can I come in, onee-chan?" She asked.

"Kagamin~ isn't awake yet." Konata answered from the other side of the door.

"Really?" Tsukasa sounded a bit surprised.

"Yeah, but you can come in if you want."

"Okay." Tsukasa then entered and was even more surprised at the view. "Ehm..."

"I told you about, didn't I?" Konata was laying on her bed while playing with her game console in her hands. She was unable to leave the bed and the reason for this was lying next to her, Kagami. Like so often, she was using Konata as her body pillow. Konata had no chance to flee from her grip and so she just gave up and started playing some games while waiting for her to get up. She had accepted her fate long ago, not that she was unhappy with it.

"I-I know, but until now I couldn't really believe it."

"Well… you don't get better proof than that."

"That's true, but why is she still asleep? Onee-chan usually never oversleeps."

"I don't really know why, but most of the time, I'm the one who wakes up the first and have to wait till she gets up because I can't escape." She sighed. "If I didn't know her better, I would say she's prone to oversleeping in the morning."

"That's weird." Tsukasa answered. "But I have to admit, you two look pretty cute together." She teased.

"Well, thanks, I guess… but it doesn't really help, like at all." Konata complained.

"I wasn't planning to." She answered.

"Oi! I already have Kagamin~ who started getting into her rebellious phase. I don't need the little twin on top of that." Konata pouted and Tsukasa just giggled a little. Suddenly the two heard a sound coming from Kagami.

"No... don't go... too many sharks… NO!" She squirmed and added more strength to the grip around Konata.

"Ehm..." Both girls said while looking puzzled at each other.

"What was that?" Tsukasa asked. "I didn't know onee-chan talks while she sleeps."

"It's not that rare, I think." Konata said. "It's definitely not the first time."

"I see… but it's cute."

"Kind of but she should better wake up. As much I want to hear more about the dream I don't think it's good for my health." Konata feared the rage of a tsundere once more. "Do you have an idea to wake her up?"

"She has a trick to wake me up. Maybe it also works on her…"

"What is it?" Konata asked.

"Hold her nose so that she gets no air."

"That's pretty harsh, but okay." Konata said so, but she looked pretty eager as pressed her hand on Kagami's nose and moments later, she started waking up due to the lack of air. The first thing she saw was Konatas rather confused looking face.

"What is it now?" Kagami asked as she blinked a few times. "Don't tell me you suddenly got embarrassed at the hugging thing. You know that it's not on purpose."

"No, I already told you I don't mind that." Konata reassured. "But you're going to be embarrassed quite soon."

"Why?" She asked and then looked at Konata who was pointing at the door where Tsukasa was standing.

"T-Tsukasa... I-I can explain that."

"It's okay, onee-chan, Konata explained it to me already." She answered.

"Y-You did?" Kagami asked Konata.

"Well… it's not like I had another chance, right?" Konata defended, but she somehow forgot to mention that it was weeks ago when she told Tsukasa.

"I guess you have a point there…" She admitted.

"But that wasn't the only embarrassing point." Konata continued.

"W-What?"

"You were talking in your sleep again." She said and Kagami developed another shape of red in her face.

"I-I wasn't"

"You were." Tsukasa said it herself.

"I-I can explain that."

"Wait a bit Kagamin~, we didn't hear anything much that would make sense so you don't have to explain." Konata tried to calm her down. "For now at least. Looking at your reaction I may be going to ask you about it some other day, even though I have a vague idea."

"And I may don't give you an answer then." Kagami started turning normal again.

"I can make you answer, don't worry about that."

"I may even want to see that." She teased.

"You two really are funny together." Tsukasa started laughing.

"…" There was nothing to retort against, whether they liked it or not.

Due to the shortness of the last remaining day, the four girls decided to take it slow and just went for some shopping in the city. After all, they had to get some souvenirs for their families. Miyuki guided them to a shopping mall near the one they were at the first time. It was smaller but still pretty huge and satisfied every single need someone could possibly have. After entering, Tsukasa immediately dragged Miyuki inside a shop that caught her interest and the two were gone for good. Like usual, Konata and Kagami slowly dragged themselves after the two, but soon gave up and went for some shopping on their own.

"So, what now?" Konata asked.

"Well, this is going to take some time. We might as well get some souvenirs now." Kagami answered.

"Yeah, that's true." Konata started looking around and found a shop she was interested in. "Hey look, a game shop."

"Konata, I just said souvenirs, how does a game shop fit in there?" Kagami sighed.

"Uhm, for my dad?" She announced.

"Somehow, I seriously doubt your intentions." She complained. "Don't you think he is happier with some typical Yokohama stuff instead one of your shady games?"

"No, not really." Konata retorted.

"Well, now that I think about it… forget my question…" She took her doubt back. "But do we really need to get it here, like here in Yokohama?"

"Come on Kagamin~ it'll only take ten minutes to get a game for my dad."

"Okay, but no minute later!"

Exactly 26 minutes and 42 seconds later, the two exited the store again.

"So much for ten minutes." Kagami was a little angry.

"Ten minutes are relative, Kagamin~."

"No, ten minutes are ten minutes. Maybe I can get down to 600 seconds, but there's no other room for discussion there."

"Well, okay, maybe ten long minutes."

"Just shut up! Okay, you little idiot?"

"Fine." She pouted.

"Great, thank you."

"You're welcome." Konata teased. "But this city sure is great. I even found a great game shop in the end."

"Yeah..." Kagami's voiced changed a little.

"I could totally live here." She said.

"Eh?"

"I mean." Konata started. "The city is pretty cool. It has cool places, it looks quite nice, lots of shopping places, even a cool game store now. On top, it's far enough to live on your own, sometime after high school is over I mean, but not too far so that you could still visit your old home as often as you want to… without abandoning anyone..." She explained.

"I see..."

"Is something wrong, Kagamin~?" Konata asked after looking at Kagami's troubled face.

"Not really..." Kagami mumbled.

"Come on Kagamin~. I know there is something, right?"

"Well, it's nothing much really." Kagami answered. "You basically just described one of my dreams."

"Huh?"

"The thing about living here." She explained. "Here in this city is a pretty good college I want to attend and maybe live here if I can get in, I mean. Especially cool is this place even because, like you said, you can get to your old home to visit parents and friends whenever you want because it takes only an hour and a half or so to get there."

"But?" Konata asked.

"But?"

"Well… I think I understand a bit now. Every time someone mentioned how cool Yokohama before is, you got a bit depressed or rather reacted a bit oddly."

"I didn't."

"Kagamin~."

"Well, okay… I have to admit you have a pretty good eye for things like this." Kagami said. "I don't like that."

"Thank you. Unfortunately for you, I like it very much." She answered. "So, where's the but?"

"The college has a pretty good reputation and getting into it, at least in the department I want to get in, is pretty hard."

"Kagami." Konata heavily sighed. "If you can't get in there, who could? I mean, sure, Miyuki could, but do you think there are a lot of them out there?"

"Thanks, mom." Kagami joked.

"What?"

"My mom said exactly the same thing, obviously except the Miyuki part."

"Only because it's true."

"Well, thank you, but didn't you want to stop with that compliment thing? Not complaining, though. It's nice once in a while even if it feels a bit weird somehow." Kagami admitted while starting to blush.

"Well…" Konata started, also getting a bit flustered. "I don't like it if you feel down… unless it's my responsibility."

"Thanks, idiot. You almost sounded nice for a second or two."

"You're welcome." Konata teased.

"Shut up."

"But you really don't have to worry about getting into your first choice college." Konata assured. "If you had to, 98% of all people would be doomed."

"People like you, huh?" Kagami teased.

"Well… I could do some all-nighters and try my luck." Konata joked. "But yeah, people like me would be doomed. People like Tsukasa probably even more."

"Oi! Not that I can't deny it, though…"

"But it's not like I wasted a thought on college in the first place."

"That's the opposite of wasting." Kagami hissed. "Besides, you're not dumb, just incredibly lazy."

"The result is more or less the same."

"Sure, but doing something against being lazy is much easier than doing something against being dumb." She explained.

"That's probably true. I still have enough time to decide something like that. Not everyone is obsessed with it like you."

"It's not being obsessed." Kagami said. "I just want to have a good future. It's nothing wrong with that."

"I can't argue with that." Konata answered in defeat. "But still, I have time."

"Ah! Onee-chan, Kona-chan! There you are." Tsukasa yelled as she found the two in the shopping center.

"You're one to talk Tsukasa." Kagami retorted. "You were the one who vanished three seconds after we entered the building."

"Well, yeah, whatever." Tsukasa defended herself. "What were you two talking about?"

"That's a bit complicated, I guess." Kagami answered. "More or less about college and stuff like that."

"That's amazing. To get Kona-chan to talk about college must've been hard." Tsukasa laughed.

"Oi!" Konata pouted.

"That's indeed quite amazing." Miyuki admitted.

"Oi!" Konata pouted even stronger.

"First off, Konata started talking about it and second, the end wasn't very satisfying if you ask me." Kagami explained.

"If I had known it before, I probably would've avoided it in the first place." Konata uttered.

"No you didn't" Kagami teased.

"Shut up." She hissed. "Argh, you're turning our roles again. I told you I don't like that."

"And that's the point why I like it."

"Okay, that comeback was my own fault, but seriously, stop that."

"Nope."

After some more pointless arguing, the four continued their trip in the shopping center for souvenirs. They mostly ended up with some local food and sweets and later that day, the girls went to the station because the train back home was about to depart and they said goodbye to Yokohama again for the time being.

* * *

.

And there goes the Yokohama trip.

To be honest, it wasn't my favorite chapter… except the hotel parts that is, because we got some slight changes between Kagami and Konata. And an overexcited Tsukasa sure is cute…

The sightseeing parts… well, I even cut out a lot because I overdid it but still…

Speaking of not liking things… The next chapter… I almost hate him to the point I thought about skipping it altogether (I don't really know what I was thinking back then…) but I kind of need the content of it later on.

But let's ignore that and get to the good news. I started working on the concept for chapter 17, which means ch. 16 is done! And man, did I go overboard there. It's handwritten and I haven't typed it yet… but 84 freaking handwritten pages say a lot. I guess the chapter has something between 16k and 20k words (min 5k more than this chap here)… Maybe I should split it or something… Not to spoil anything right now… but I even got a bit embarrassed myself while writing some parts…


	15. All that belongs to the past

The days after the trip to Yokohama went by quickly. Tsukasa visited Miyuki quite often to get her homework done and Kagami basically stayed almost all the time at Konatas place again, mainly to beat some school related information inside her little head, at least according to her. The testing period in school right after golden week went by smoothly for all of them. Kagami and Miyuki had obviously no problem in the first place, but Tsukasa and Konata also did rather well. Tsukasa mainly because of Miyuki and Konata because of a very pushy Kagami and a bit of her approved all-night cramming session the day before each test. Even after the tests were over, Kagami insisted on continuing their studying together. Konata wasn't happy about that, not in the slightest. Unfortunately for her, Kagami can be very persistent with things she wants to do. Sometimes even more than Konata herself and lately. Kagami found a few methods to get her way with Konata when it comes to studying. Especially the improved ignoring method of her was a reliable way to stop Konata when she gets all hyper and clingy. The first weekend after golden week arrived and Kagami was on her way to Konatas house, just like she was most of the days in the last weeks. Almost the only exceptions were made when Konata felt like moving out of her room, but then it ended just at Kagamis house instead of her own. The two basically spent every free minute with each other.

"Hello." Kagami said as she entered Konatas house with the key she received from Konata.

"Welcome back." Konatas father, Sojiro, joked from the living room.

"Oh, hey..." She answered. "Is Konata in her room?"

"No, she went to get something earlier, but she should get back soon."

"Oh, okay… Man, I should really remember to call her first." She sighed.

"She actually picks up the phone if you call her? Every time I try to call her, nothing happens."

"Well, you got a point there. Is it okay if I wait in her room?"

"You don't really have to ask, just make yourself at home here." He said. "But, actually, I have something I wanted to talk about with you. Do you have a minute?" He asked and pointed at the living room.

"Uhm… well, okay." Kagami hesitantly agreed. Even though, or maybe because, she spends a lot of time with Konata, she thinks that he is a pretty creepy guy, so being alone with him isn't her first choice. Still, she went to the living room and sat down on the couch near to him.

"You two became really good friends, didn't you?" He asked a couple moments later.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that…" She was a bit confused at what the conversation was about.

"Do you know why?" Sojiro said and Kagami shook her head a bit.

"That's an interesting question. I often asked myself the same… I guess it just happened and I have absolutely no idea why and to be honest, I don't really care either in the end."

"What do you mean?"

"I just have fun around and with her, even though she's very hard to handle and teases me all the time. It's weird but well, without her around, it's just boring and because of this, I don't care why." She explained and at the same time, she started to blush slightly.

"I understand. It's good to hear that you two are so good friends, even though how she is from an outside point of view and especially that you don't care about it."

"Well… I wouldn't say it isn't annoying but yeah..." She said. "What do you want to tell me in the first place?"

"Ah, straight to the point, just as Konata told me, you're a sharp one." He joked and saw Kagami getting annoyed, so he continued. "I'm not really sure if I should tell you because it's sort of complicated…"

"You don't have to tell me."

"It's important at the same time. It's something about Konatas past and somehow, it has something to do with you now." He said it in an unusually serious tone. Kagami never heard him speaking like that, so she felt a bit uneasy and nervous.

"With me?" She asked. "How?"

"Like I said, it's complicated. See, in grade school, she also had a pretty close friend… She really spent a lot of time with her and was really happy and then something bad happened."

"B-Bad?" Kagami had a bad feeling.

"No, no accident or such. As soon as she finished school, her friend had to move away because of the work of her parents." He explained. "Konata didn't handle it well... to say it lightly."

"Why?"

"You know what happened to her mother, right? I'm not entirely sure myself, but I think ever since then, she had a problem with losing people because after her friend left, she was really sad in middle school. Even to the point where she was distancing herself from other people until I decided to do something about it."

"What did you do?" Kagami became really silent during the conversation but she wanted to hear more, even if she felt somehow bad.

"The only thing I could think of was that I became not only her father, but also her best friend because there was no chance I would ever leave her. That's also why I started working from home to spend as much time with her as possible. It worked pretty good and soon, she was happy again, but it had some side effects."

"Side effects?"

"Well, the hobbies Konata now has... She was heavily influenced by me with that. I don't really mind her having these hobbies, but I thought it probably wasn't the right hobby for a middle school girl. And I was right, the first two years in middle school, the only person in her life was me because the other girls in her school thought it was really weird. So in the end, I made things worse rather than better." He was getting very sad by the end.

"Uhm..." Kagami gulped again because she couldn't find any good words. "But Konata told me she had a friend in middle school."

"Yeah..." He sighed, causing Kagami to feel even more uncomfortable. "She found one in her last year. The girl was also very interested in games and so, the two became friends. I was happy at first, but couldn't help, but feel uneasy and sadly, I was right. By the time middle school ended, the two somehow lost the contact with each other even though she tried to stay in touch with her and Konata quickly got sad again because she lost another important person."

"Why?!" Kagami asked. She wasn't uneasy anymore because it became anger now.

"It's not over yet. As high school started, she said she doesn't want friends anymore. She was very silent in the first days of school, so that she needn't to interact with people. I nearly died inside, seeing her this sad, but she didn't manage to hold up her barrier for long because she met your sister Tsukasa and helped her with some kind of problem."

"Oh yeah, Tsukasa told that she was surprised that Konata helped her, even though it was just a misunderstanding in the first place. She was surprised because Konata was really silent in class and never talked to anyone. I never imagined anything like that behind it."

"The times I saw Tsukasa, I guess Konata had no chance but to be friends with her, no matter how hard she tried because of Tsukasas happy go lucky nature."

"Oh, yeah, I know what you mean."

"Konata was dragged into having friends once more. I was happy because for at least three years, she could be happy and I could hide my concerns for some time. It didn't end just with Tsukasa, basically at the same time, Miyuki followed. Probably because she was in the same class and Miyuki was already befriended with her."

"Yes, Tsukasa and I knew her for a long time already."

"And then there was you, who met her a little later and even more changed."

"Huh?" Kagami looked pretty confused.

"You two became friends and Konata became really active and happy, way more than she was with Tsukasa before and it took only very little time to make her change like that. A thing I'm still very impressed at. That's why I asked you earlier if you know why you two became such good friends."

"I see… but still, it just happened. At first, I was sort of confused at her behavior and even a bit appalled, but that ended really quick as I got to know her better."

"Even more happened... Lately, when I was really busy with my last book." As he mentioned the book, she instantly averted her eyes for some unknown reason but she decided to listen to him more. "I had little to no time for her and felt really bad when I had to leave her for almost a month. Until I heard what happened… You were there for her and I felt incredibly relieved. Konata told me that she wasn't lonely on the phone as she told me about you and I could hear that she was really happy about it. I have to thank you for that." Sojiro was really grateful for it.

"You don't have to thank me for that." Kagami reassured him. "She, I think accidentally, told me that she felt a bit lonely and somehow, I couldn't bear to leave her alone and I just had to stay." She felt a bit embarrassed again at her sudden honesty.

"Still, it's beyond my words to express how much I want to thank you. Even more, it's not just that… It didn't stop after I came back and I have a feeling that you two are better friends than ever."

"Yeah, I think the same, although I don't know what happened." She answered. "But somehow, I can feel a really big but coming from you soon, Sojiro-san. I'm still not exactly sure why you are telling me all this."

"Isn't that pretty obvious after what I just told you? It's pretty simple, although it's not really my right to ask."

"Please do."

"Please don't leave her as soon as high school ends." He pleaded.

"Huh?" Kagami asked as she was completely dumbfounded.

"Well, it's still over a year and a half till high school ends, but I'm already fearing what could happen if you would leave her."

"W-What makes you think that?" She started to feel a weird pain inside her.

"I told you about the two girls she was friends with before... She was so sad when they left her, to the point where she made the choice to not have friends in the first place." He explained. "And if you still ask what that has to do with you, it's, again, pretty simple. The two girls who, may unintentionally, hurt her this bad were close to Konata, but they weren't even remotely near the point of friendship you two have right now. I don't even want to imagine what happens if you're suddenly gone. It's probably going to surpass even my wildest nightmares…"

"…" Kagami was at a loss of words, she couldn't even mumble something, just looking with big eyes at nothing and lost in thoughts and the pain inside her felt even more intense.

"I know it's a tough request but please, if it's somehow possible to keep the contact with her after school ends." Sojiro pled and after some time, Kagami found some words again.

"I... wow... That's some story, a really sad one, but I can understand your concern, I think. To make you feel better, I wasn't intending to leave her or rather, leave anyone I know here. Way before I know about that what you just told me. Even with college, I was planning on either a local or one in Yokohama, which is a place I can come to visit my friends whenever they or I want. On top of that, Konata already knows that."

"She knows?"

"Yeah, when we were in Yokohama last week, we somehow ended up with talking about college and I told her. To help you, she didn't sound sad at all after hearing my plans, she even encouraged me."

"That is really good to hear. Thank you!" He almost yelled. "I never imagined she would find such a good friend like you..." He was incredibly happy, Kagami was blushing again and the pain in her chest was gone.

"Uhm..." She mumbled before changed the subject. "Even more, I was getting really angry at the two girls in your story. I mean, sure, Konata is a bit 'special', but she really is a good person inside. Leaving her was a real poor choice if you ask me!"

"I'm the last person you have to tell that. It's nice to hear that from other people, though."

"Do you have their addresses? I would love to tell them a thing or two for hurting my Konata…"

"Your Konata?"

"Ehm…" Kagami realized her slip of the tongue and didn't know what to say.

"Hmm." He started smiling for some reason.

"So…" The subject got immediately ignored by her. "To conclude that, unless Konata doesn't want to be friends with me anymore or she really hurts me with something, which I doubt, you really have nothing to worry about it at all. Even without telling me all that, because it changed nothing for me. But still let me say it like this, all that will belong to the past and only the past."

"Thank you, Kagami! Really, thank you! You can't even imagine how happy I am to hear that and I'll trust you."

"I think I have to thank you, too. Telling me this story must've been hard for you and it means a lot to me that you trust me this much." She said. "I never imagined that I would say what I'm about to say."

"Huh?" He was confused.

"Please don't get me wrong, I always thought you're just a creepy, perverted, and weird man… I guess you know why." She told and he nodded, knowing exactly what she meant. "But you really are a good father to her."

"Thank you, that means a lot to me, especially if it comes from a cute high school girl." He joked.

"The creepy pervert part is still true, though." She said and then both laughed.

"Now that this thing is off my heart, I can happily go back to my writing because I know my daughter isn't going to be lonely for quite some time." He concluded. _'Didn't Konata always says she's a grade a tsundere? Well, maybe I'm not important enough to keep her guard up.'_

Sojiro then opened his laptop and continued his light novel. Kagami stood up, said goodbye, and finally made her way towards Konatas room.

 _'Wow.'_ Kagami thought and sighed. ' _I certainly didn't see that coming. Sure, she was weird or rather is but it's because of something like that? I didn't expect her to be this complex. Somehow, I feel really sorry for her. It's so sad and I really hate these girls, even though at least one of them isn't at fault at all."_ By now, Kagami was already inside Konatas room but still completely busy with herself.

"Kagamin~?"

 _'And even more, the old class of hers, avoiding her just because she has a weird hobby. Idiots! Sure, it's sometimes hard and even I don't like that hobby much either, but you have to look at the person and not their hobbies… Wait, why am I defending her like that? I guess I'm just angry at them.'_ She continued thinking until she heard a voice.

"KAGAMIN~!"

"Huh?"

"Ah, someone's in there, great!" Konata finally got a reaction.

"Why shouldn't there someone be?"

"Ehm… because I said you name at least ten times and never got a response at all."

"Y-You didn't."

"Sure I did. So, what's going on inside your head? You looked awfully concentrated and angry at the same time."

"N-Nothing." Kagami tried to play it off. "Wait, why are you here?"

"I kind of life here!?" She explained. "I mean, sure, you're spending almost as much time here as I do, but it's still my house."

"Thanks captain obvious." She pointed out. "Your dad said you went out or something."

"Yeah, but I got back like 15 minutes ago."

"Huh, you did?"

"Yeah, but I have to admit that your stealth skills really have improved, Kagamin~. I didn't hear you open the front door at all."

"That's probably because I'm here for about half an hour already."

"Really? Where?"

"I was talking with your dad."

"That's unusual. What were you two talking about?" Konata got curious at the odd combination.

"Ah... uhm…" She mumbled. ' _I don't think she wanted me to know that…'_ She thought. "Nothing interesting..."

"Yeah, you're totally convincing me right now." Konata obviously wasn't buying it.

"It really was nothing that would change anything."

"Huh? What do you mean? You're not making sense at all, I mean even less than usual."

"Oi! Shut up, that's my line."

"Alright, that's my Kagamin~, much better." Konatas concerns were gone as she saw Kagami acting normal again, at least until…

"But..."

"But?"

Kagami moved closer towards Konata and started hugging her. Out of reflex, Konata tried to back off because she was genuinely surprised at the sudden hug. However, as she tried, she immediately noticed that she couldn't because Kagami was using the same strength she uses while sleeping and Konata knew that there was no getting out of it. On top of that, Kagami didn't just not let her go, she also hugged her more tightly than Konata ever did before with her 'surprise' hugs. The two were really close and after some time, Kagami started resting her chin on Konatas right shoulder. She didn't care about the fact that her face was almost catching fire. Ever since the talk with Konatas father, she had the overwhelming urge to hug the little girl and not letting her go anytime soon. Konata, on the other hand, was still extremely confused. Normally, she was the one who hugs Kagami with no warning and not the other way around but she liked it, just like the sleeping Kagami does all the time, Konata liked it when Kagami hugged her. She thought it felt nice, even though she didn't know why. A few moments later, Konata decided to return the hug by putting her arms tightly around Kagamis waist. After some time, which felt like an eternity, the two let go of each other. Kagamis face was so incredible red and even Konatas cheeks were burning, normally she wasn't affected by a hug from her but somehow, it felt different, more powerful.

"I-I'm sorry K-Konata." Kagami deeply apologized after she had realized what happened.

"H-Huh? Nah, I don't mind. It was kind of nice." Konata answered while trying to sound unaffected. "But I have a question."

"W-What is it?"

"Why?" She asked. "What did I do to earn this 'gift'? Or was it my father who scared you this much?" She teased.

"Nothing, it has nothing to do with you or anything like that, I just felt like doing it. Any problems with that?"

"No, it was just extremely dere of you, even to a degree I thought a tsundere couldn't go to."

"S-Shut up idiot! I already told you, I am not a tsundere!"

"Well, there's that and…"

"I told you to shut up!" Kagami hissed.

"And then there's this."

"Grr." She played right in Konatas hand.

"So, are you going to tell me now what you were talking about with my dad? I'm sure it has something to do with your sudden dere overload."

"No, I'm not and again, shut up."

"Okay, fine, Kagamin~. Well, I'm going to find out someday anyway, so I can as well wait for it."

"Whatever."

"What are we doing now, now that you're here already?"

"Actually, I just felt like dropping by on my way home from shopping. You can come with me if you want."

"Sure, I'm in." Konata easily agreed to the proposal

"By the way, where were you earlier?" Kagami asked.

"Huh? Ah, I just went to buy some pocky and stuff like that. For some reason, my supply was pretty low."

"Oh, I see. Feel free to bring them with you."

"Sure, you're the reason why my supply is low all the time in the first place after all." She teased.

"Oi!"

"Am I wrong?"

"Shut up." No, she wasn't

Konata quickly grabbed some things, including the pocky and carefully avoided all school and homework related things and then, the two left for Kagamis home.

….

"Onee-chan, is that you?" Konata and Kagami heard Tsukasa yelling after they entered the house.

"Yeah." Kagami answered.

"Great! Can you help me for a minute or so?"

"Sure!" Kagami yelled back. "You can go to my room if you want. She probably just wants to know something about homework or so." Kagami said to Konata and then followed the voice of her sister.

"Okay." Konata nodded.

"Oh, hey Konata." She got suddenly greeted by another person.

"I didn't see you at all, Miki, hi."

"No need to be mean, Konata." She jokingly pouted.

"Nah, I'm pretty different when I'm mean. You can ask Kagamin~ if you want."

"I can imagine that. Why are you here?"

"Kagami came over to my place and invited me on the way."

"Oh, Kagami is here too?"

"So much for that." Konata teased. "That sure runs in the family, huh?"

"Well, I guess you got me there." She joked. "Actually, it's a good thing you're here. I wanted to ask you a couple things."

"Oh, now it's my turn, I see..."

"What do you mean?"

"When I came home, Kagami was talking with my dad and now you want to talk with me."

"I see. What did they talk about?"

"I have absolutely no idea." Konata heavily sighed. "She won't tell me."

"Well, it can't be helped then." Miki probably was as curious as Konata.

"I'm sure I'm going to find a way. After all, I have one or two tricks when it comes to Kagamin~."

"Back to Kagami, that's good. Can I ask you some things about her?"

"Sure, ask away."

"I think I already asked that before but do you know by now, how you two became this good friends, like the one you are now?"

"No, like I already said, it just happened somehow. Tsukasa introduced us and the rest happened on its own. I don't even know why Tsukasa became my friend, especially because I didn't..." Konata immediately stopped and Miki saw her facial expression changed to a sad one.

"What happened?" She got a bit worried.

"Oh, I really don't want to talk about that, like absolutely not." She then changed the subject. "So, what were you going on with Kagami?"

"Oh, I'm sorry for asking then." Miki apologized. "You know how Kagami sometimes is, right?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess I know what you mean. She can be a bit, well best I can describe it as cold or maybe unapproachable, I guess."

"Yes, something along these lines. In the past, she was really complex. Sure, she always had friends but she never was really close to them, she even kept some distance to her older sisters. The only person in her inner circle was Tsukasa."

"I can't really see what that has to do with me?" Konata tilted her head a little.

"Like I said the only person was Tsukasa. 'Was'. You came and somehow immediately passed her barrier. I really want to know why."

"I'm not really sure I can give you a good answer to that. I just happen to have some experience with that type of personality." Konata answered. ' _Even though it comes from games, anime, and manga...'_ She thought. "I simply knew how to get a reaction out of her and the rest just happened, I guess."

"Well, I guess I just have to thank you for that even though you don't know why. It makes me really happy as a mother to see her that cheerful after you two became friends."

"You don't have to. I'm pretty happy myself to have found a friend like her. In the past I..." She stopped again. "Ah, never mind that."

"Konata? What..." She was interrupted.

"Konata! There you are." Kagami yelled. "Didn't you want to wait in my room?"

"Sorry Kagamin~, Miki wanted to talk a bit so I stayed here."

"Ah, I see." Kagami still wasn't sure how to feel about Konata and her mother being friends.

"But we're done now, right, Miki?" She asked and Miki nodded. "We can go to your room."

Konata said goodbye to her and left for Kagamis room. Kagami was about to follow but got stopped.

"Kagami? Can you come here for a second?" Miki asked her over.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Do you happen to know what happened in Konatas past? It felt like I accidentally stepped on a landmine after the topic scratched that area." She told and Kagami turned a bit pale as she looked away.

"Well, uhm..." She mumbled. She just wanted to forget about it already.

"So you do?"

"Yeah, her dad told me today."

"Ah, okay. That answers one question. What happened?" She recalled Konata mentioning the talk with her father.

"I really can't tell you, it's extremely private and sort of sad. Even I myself think I shouldn't know about it, but her dad really wanted to tell me." Kagami explained and became seemingly uncomfortable.

"I guess I have to respect that, but please take good care of her okay? I have a feeling that she was hurt pretty bad by something. I mean besides her mother."

"Yeah." Kagami slowly nodded. "And yes, I will."

"That's good to hear."

"Ah, by the way, can she stay over today, well… I haven't asked her yet but…"

"Sure, I'm already thinking of her almost like family… I kind of want to keep her. She can come and stay over whenever she wants, but I think I already said that once."

"Well, yeah, but still…" She suppressed the urge to retort to various things.

Kagami also went to her room where Konata was waiting.

"So, what were you talking about with my mom?" Kagami asked as she entered her room.

"Uhm nothing, nothing at all." Konata teased.

"I guess I earned that." Receiving the same treatment as Konata

"Absolutely."

"Well, fine, I won't ask again for now." And giving the same answer as her.

"Thanks. What are we going to do now?"

"How about we do some homework for a change?"

"Uhh… Kagamin~." Konata sighed. "Well, I would love to but unfortunately, I forgot all my homework related stuff at home. Too bad..." She wasn't sorry for it at all.

"Don't worry, you can use my books. We can just share them."

"…" She hadn't thought about that.

"You didn't really think that would work, did you?"

"I have to admit that it was one of my weaker tries..."

"It definitely was."

"But Kagamin~…"

"Shut up, besides, it's really not that much, half an hour at most and we're done."

"You're really eager with all that homework stuff, aren't you? I mean, that's like the 15532 time you mentioned that word."

"I think you're exaggerating a bit there."

"Nah, you probably just forgot because your memory got reset every time, but I remember every single time."

"Somehow, I have the feeling that you switched over to something different in the middle of the conversation."

"Me? Going off-topic? Never!" Konata dramatically exclaimed.

"Shut up, you idiot. That's one of your main selling points. Let's do our homework and get over it already."

"15533." She mumbled.

"Cut it out."

"Fine." Konata pouted a bit before both started doing their homework.

30 minutes later, like Kagami said, it really wasn't much homework and she had already finished hers. Konata on the other wasn't motivated at all, even less than normal. Due to this, her homework was nowhere near to be finished and she also had no intention of finishing it. Konata tried one of her older tricks, she stood up and quickly rushed behind Kagami and before she even had the chance to react Konata jumped on her back. Her arms were around Kagamis neck, and her legs around her waist. Just like a kid who gets a piggyback ride.

"So, what do you want?" Kagami actually stayed calm.

"Nothing."

"I see." She nodded. "So how about you get off me then?" Even though she was calm, it was still a god thing Konata couldn't see her face from this position.

"Nah."

"You really are bothersome sometimes... You know that, right?"

"Am I really?" Konata asked. "You don't seem to fight back that often anymore lately."

"T-That's just because it's too exhausting."

"And after 'that' earlier at my home… I'm pretty sure now that you like it, too… Not that I had any doubts before."

"D-Don't jump to conclusions, idiot." She yelled. "I was just in a good mood and wanted to do you a favor."

"Really? It didn't feel like just doing a favor."

"S-Shut up, idiot."

Konata kept teasing her for a couple minutes until Kagami was finally embarrassed and annoyed enough to take action against it. She stood up, with Konata still clinging to her back, and went to her bed. As she reached it, she turned around to let herself fall backward on it, trapping Konata between the bed and Kagami lying on top of her.

"So, what are you going to do now?" Kagami sounded pretty smug.

"mmphmp mffmp." Konata mumbled some impossible to understand words in Kagamis neck.

"What?"

"mmmffp!" She mumbled again and then bit Kagamis neck.

"Oi! Don't bite my neck, idiot." She yelled as she lifted her head.

"Then don't try to suffocate me!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I wanted to punish you, but not kill you."

"Hmm… did you gain weight or something, you feel pretty heavy."

"W-What?"

"Around here." Konata pinched the side of Kagami. "See?"

"Y-You're k-kidding, right!?" Kagami started tearing up. "You know how s-sensitive I am about that and still…"

"Calm down, Kagamin~, of course I am." She reassured her and pinched her waist again. "Please show me the fat there."

"…"

"Man, why are girls always so sensitive about their weight?"

"Konata…" She sighed, she was super angry a second ago, but it was hard to say angry at Konata. "I think that topic is a little bit worn out, don't you agree?"

"It still works, so I'll keep it up a bit more." Konata teased. "By the way, what are you going to do now? I would be actually a bit happy if you would let me go... Or at least turn around because your front should be softer because…"

"Not going to happen, pervert."

"Huh?"

"I think it's time for another revenge." Kagami said in a teasingly tone.

"W-What?" Konata wasn't expecting that and had a bad feeling.

"You heard me, Konata." Kagami got up, faced Konata and pinned her down so that she couldn't escape from the bed.

"Oho, I didn't expect Kagami to be the one on top after all." Konata tried to remain her composure by teasing but doom was still lingering literally right above her.

"S-Shut up, you perverted old man."

"See? No girl after all."

"Oh man…" She sighed while trying not to laugh.

"But sure, go ahead. I can't wait to get you into more Cosplay."

"H-Huh?"

"Well, I have that list from Yokohama that I have to go through."

"Y-You don't actually…" Kagamis resolve for revenge started wavering.

"Sure I do. I told you that this is going to be my future revenge."

"B-But..."

"Well, it's up to you."

"You're pretty sly, Konata."

"Like you're one to talk." Konata said as she looked at Kagami and the scene both were into right now. Both on the bed and Kagami on top, completely restraining her beneath.

"I guess I have to risk it... I have to get some stress relieve."

"Okay… I'm actually a bit scared now." She turned a bit pale.

"You should."

Kagami was about to attack Konata to do whatever she planned, but the door of her room opened and her mother stuck her head inside. Her expression was really interesting.

"Uhm... am I interrupting you two on something?" Miki asked as she was looking in the direction of the two girls on the bed.

"No, not really." Konata calmly answered. For some reason, she sounded incredibly relieved. "Saved by Miki, that's quite some luck."

"Shut up."

"Okay… I guess?" Miki answered but still looked confused. "I made dinner and wanted to ask if you two wanted to join."

"Sure." The two answered and started following Miki after they got up.

"Just that you know, Kagamin~, that counts. Next is my turn."

"You wish, not going to happen."

"You two sure are lively." Miki said. "Care to explain what you're talking about?"

"Uhm… that's a bit complex." Kagami answered.

"Sort of." Konata agreed. "One day, Kagami got a bit ahead of herself and.."

"And another day Konata totally overdid it." Kagami finished while getting closer to Konata, putting her arm around Konatas neck and playfully tried to choke her. "Right?"

"Yeah… I'm the one who constantly overdoes it…" She coughed and Kagami hardened her grip around Konatas neck.

"Yes. You."

Miki was smiling the entire time at the playful little bantering of the two.

"Oh, hey Kona-chan." Tsukasa said as the other entered the kitchen. "I didn't even know you were here."

"Uh Kagamin~, can you let me go now, slowly, I'm really dying over here."

"Oh, sure… I kind of already forgot…" Her being this close to Konata was a natural thing already.

"How very nice of you." Konata remarked and coughed a bit. "Hi Tsukasa, I came with Kagami earlier."

"Really? Why didn't you say a thing?"

"Because you immediately called for your sister and then I got caught up in a conversation with your mom and somehow I forgot, I guess."

"Oh, okay."

"Don't worry, I'll try to remember next time."

"I'll make you remember." Kagami added and the three girls and Miki, who was just listening to them, started eating

"Wow, this is really good." Konata praised the food on her plate.

"It is." Kagami added.

"Thanks." Miki said.

"I really don't get how you can be this bad at cooking when you have a mom like her, Kagamin~." Konata teased her as she casually gained even more points with Miki.

"Oi! At least I got a bit better…"

"Oh yeah, your cooking lessons." Miki got interested in the topic. "How is it going? It was pretty silent around that topic lately."

"Well… after the accident with the rice and my arm, it died down a bit and in Yokohama in between, we didn't really have any time."

"Sorry for feeling bad that I injured you."

"It was an accident, so again, don't mind it."

"Still…" Kagami said. "But like I said last week, we should try it again soon."

"Sure, we can start next week again. I don't want Miki to lose her kitchen here after all." She joked.

"Thank you, Konata." Miki sincerely answered.

"Oi!" Kagami was pouting for some time already.

They finished eating and Kagami went together with Konata back to her room, but Tsukasa stayed with her mother for a bit.

"You seem pretty unimpressed." Miki turned to Tsukasa.

"With what?"

"The two being this close."

"Ah… that. They're always like that after all."

"Really?"

"Pretty much. I would be more impressed if they wouldn't be all over each other like that. They're inseparable after all."

"Hmm… maybe it's just because I didn't see her like that often and was a bit surprised."

"That could be true."

….

Back in Kagamis room, the two were talking.

"Hmm… I really wonder which Cosplay set I should get for you first."

"How about none?"

"W-Wow… how bold, but naked is a bit…"

"Oi, do you want to die?"

"Nah, but it's my turn now and so I have to do it."

"OiOiOi!" Kagami yelled. "First off, I said no, that doesn't count and second, you really don't have to do something like Cosplay."

"But I want to, you looked at so many outfits back in Yokohama and I have to find the perfect one out of them."

"I didn't look at them!"

"Of course you did, I clearly saw you looking."

"S-Shut up, idiot." As usual, when Kagami was cornered, she retorted her standard line.

"Yeah yeah."

"So, what are we going to do now?" Kagami didn't want to talk about it anymore.

"Oho, pretty eager to change the subject aren't we?"

"Yes."

"Fine, your honesty shall be rewarded. Let's do something else."

"What do you want to do?" She was too grateful to say something.

"I have absolutely no idea, not even a bit." Konata announced.

"I could totally see that coming."

"Well, what did you expect then?" She joked.

"Pretty much this." After all, Kagami knows how she works.

"Then make your own suggestion, you already had your precious homework time, so it can't be bad…"

"We could study for school." Kagami joked and tried not to laugh at Konatas sudden change of expression.

"Shut up, idiot." Konata was not amused.

"Fine."

"And the roles are changed again…."

"Yeah yeah, how about a movie or something like that."

"Or anime." She was really hard to break.

"Yeah, no, let's not do that today."

"Aww, how mean." Konata pouted.

"Let's just find a movie, okay?"

"Yep."

After some time flipping through the TV channels, the two found something interesting, which wasn't an anime, and started watching it. After the movie was halfway done, Konata looked at the clock and was surprised.

"Oh wow, it's already this late, huh." Konata exclaimed. "I should better head home soon."

"Hmm? You're not staying?"

"I can?"

"Duh, I'm wondering why you're even asking right now." Kagami answered. "Sure you can."

"Well… okay then." She said. "Yeah, sort of stupid indeed."

"That's just you being you."

"…"

Konata and Kagami continued watching the movie and followed by another one. Somewhere in the second movie, they had changed into their pajamas and continued watching it from the bed because it was more comfortable than the floor.

"Man, I'm pretty tired." Kagami said as the movie finished.

"We could go to sleep if you want." Konata was also a bit tired after watching two movies in a row.

"Sounds good."

"Wait! I don't have to sleep on a futon right?"

"Why not?"

"Because it's unfair."

"Why?"

"Because you never have to sleep in one at my house." Konata explained.

"Well, I guess you have a point there, somehow… You know what, I'm in a good mood today."

"Yay."

"But the same rule as always, weird thing means out."

"But I don't want to kick you out when you do weird things again, Kagamin~." Konata teased.

"Shut up, you little idiot." She couldn't give Konata a real argument because there was none.

Kagami switched off the light and both went to sleep. While sleeping, Kagami was dreaming about the thing Konatas father told her and because of that, she woke up in the middle of the night. It was dark, but she could still see Konata sleeping a bit further away from her in the bed.

"I can't believe she had a childhood like that… It's so sad, especially what happened in middle school. You can't just avoid a person because of her hobbies. Just look at her..." Kagami said so and looked at Konatas sleeping face. "How can you do that to such a cute… Wait?" She shook her head at her own sudden words. "Whatever, let's just ignore that… I really hope I can keep that promise. No, there's no 'hope', I will… I wasn't intending on anyway long before. Why should I leave friends? I really don't want her to be hurt." She concluded her monolog and then she saw Konata stirring a bit. It looked like she also had a bad dream.

"…Kagamin~… leaving?…" Konata mumbled, at least that was all Kagami could understand.

"Oi, don't misinterpret things and then dream about it." Kagami muttered to herself because she was arguing with a sleeping person. "As long as you want to, I'll not leave you." She quietly said before she pulled Konata close to her and hugged her tightly again, as in to comfort both.

"…Thanks…" Konata mumbled even though she was completely asleep.

"You're welcome." She answered to a sleeping person again, which made her feel a bit stupid. "So much for the weird thing rule..." Kagami said to herself as she looked at her hugging Konata. She started to blush and tried to get some sleep on her own. "Well… whatever, let's just hope she won't kick me out of my bed now." After a little chuckle, Kagami quickly fell asleep again, without ever releasing Konata from her arms.

….

Konata was the first one who awoke in the morning and was surprised at the view.

"Uh, Kagamin~ sure is close." She said as she took the scenery in. "I wonder why? Her hugging is nothing new but this close… Kagamin~?!" She said her name louder in order to check if she's awake, but there was no reaction at all. "So much for that. Maybe she had a bad dream and unintentional drew me closer and…" She froze. "I wasn't sleep talking, right? Right?!" Konata rapidly shook her head. "Let's just ignore that idea. Well, it's kind of nice. It feels a bit like the hug she gave me yesterday for whatever reason. It's really warm and comforting. Seeing her cute sleeping face is also a nice service. That's one of the, if not the most adorable sleeping face I've ever seen, in the games I played that is… Pretty high praise, if you ask me." She joked with herself. "Wait… calling her cute and adorable in the situation we're in at the moment is a bit… Well, it's true, so it's fine." After some more minutes of Konata arguing with herself, she felt Kagami waking up.

"You're pretty close." Kagami said as she opened her eyes.

"Good morning, sleepyhead, good to see you, too."

"Yeah yeah, good morning."

"And the close thing is your fault." Konata said and she immediately was rewarded with a blush on Kagamis face.

"Oh, I'm sorry then."

"Kagamin~, you apologize too much. Just be grateful that I didn't use your rule of kicking out on yourself."

"I'm sorry."

"That was on purpose now, wasn't it?" Konata suspiciously looked at her.

"Sure it was." Kagami started laughing.

They relaxed a little more on the bed, but Konata decided that she had to go to the toilet and left the room.

"Ah, good, it looks like she hasn't noticed what happened in the night." Both sighed in relief in the different rooms. "That would be so embarrassing, but I really wonder why it feels so good having her close. Hmm..." Both still talking to themselves. "Well, whatever… let's just enjoy it while it lasts" As usual, no more thoughts were wasted on it.

"Let's take it easy today, okay Kagamin~? I don't really feel like doing anything at all today." Konata said after coming back from the bath.

"Yeah, me neither." Kagami agreed. "Maybe we can just do something with Tsukasa today or so."

"Sounds good to me."

"But that may could take some time." She said as she looked at the clock. "She's probably going to sleep for some more hours."

"I wish I could sleep that long." Konata complained.

"Aren't you doing the same all the time when I'm no around?"

"Well, yeah… sort of." Konata admitted.

"So why are you complaining?"

"When was the last time you weren't around?" Konata answered. "Not that I'm complaining or anything."

"You kind of have a point there. Well, I'm sorry for correcting your sleeping habits."

"Thank you, you really should feel bad about it after all!"

"I wasn't serious, idiot."

"But you should." Konata was serious about it.

"Shut up."

After some more chatting, the two went downstairs for some breakfast. They waited almost two hours after eating until Tsukasa finally woke up.

"Oh Tsukasa, you're alive?"

"Of course I am, Kona-chan." Tsukasa answered and yawned a little.

"I wish I could sleep like that again..." Konata started complaining

"I don't believe you woke up much earlier than I did, Kona-chan."

"Oh please, I woke up before Kagamin~ did!"

"Yeaah, suuure." Tsukasa teased and then looked at Konatas serious face. "Wait, really? Why?"

"I'm the one who wants to know that the most… I just can't sleep like usual when your sister is around, I guess…"

"And like I said before, it's a good thing for you to fix your sleeping habit." Kagami interjected. "Maybe you'll even start growing a bit. You know the saying. 'A good sleep is good for a child's growth.'"

"Oi! I have the strong feeling that this wasn't nice at all." Konata pouted.

"Just your imagination, just your imagination, Konata." She just played it off.

"Sure, especially because you and Tsukasa are the same height and her sleeping is also completely broken."

"That's because Tsukasa sleeps way more than you."

"Wait, shouldn't she be taller than you then?" Konata still doubted her.

"Shut up, Konata."

"But doesn't Kona-chan has a point there?" Tsukasa agreed.

"Don't worry, Tsukasa, Kagamin~ always tells me to shut up when she knows I'm going to win the argument."

"Shut up idiot."

"See?" Konata teased.

"Oh, I see." Tsukasa understood and just went along with it.

"Ah, Tsukasa, want to hang out today, we're kind of bored and wanted to do something with you."

"Sure, lately I'm just with Yuki-chan, hanging out with you would be really great."

"Good, though I really didn't plan anything." Konata admitted while scratching her head. "Let's just play some games, watch TV, read some manga or whatever you want."

"Sounds good, I don't feel like going out today either." Tsukasa approved.

"If we can ditch the manga part, I have no objections." Kagami always found something.

"But Kagamin~." Konata protested. "Wait, all the good stuff is at my home anyway."

"Urgh, I don't even want to know what you mean by 'good stuff'..."

The three girls started with watching TV and continued the day with gaming, chatting, and whatever else that they wanted to do.

* * *

.

I'm kind of sorry for this…

I don't even like the chapter on my own, except the non past related parts that is, but else... It was way too cringy even for myself.

I wanted to add a little more… not really drama, but… ah, whatever, please just ignore it. I even liked the idea, but the result… nope, I'll just pretend I was drunk when I wrote this chapter from own.

I even wanted to delete this chapter altogether because it feels so out of place, but there are going to be one or two references in the future… so I couldn't even do that… If it reads a bit weird here and there, it's probably because I edited the most cringeworthy stuff out of the chapter to reduce the damage a little.

Let's get to the good stuff now (Probably). All old chapters are done now, this one here was from beginning of 2015, and that means the next one is a completely fresh written chapter. It's also already done and will be up by the weekend (because I don't want this one to be the most recent for too long…). I only need to find a title and decide whether to split it or not because it became an about 17-18k words monster.

I think my writing style in ch.16 changed a good bit (might as well be my imagination but…) and so please, don't be confused if it feels somehow different. Story wise is it going to continue, but it may will feel like a little skip, not time wise but… well, you'll see soon enough what I mean.

If you're into a downright adorable and playful Kagami, who also mastered teasing to the point where she can easily drive Konata in a corner, prepare for a ride next time.


	16. Changes and Tension (Part 1)

A couple days had passed since Kagami learned a bit more about Konata's past. It didn't change much in how she thought about Konata, but their dynamic changed a bit because Kagami became much clingier herself. The resistance when Konata jumped at her in the usual 'surprise' hug was almost nonexistent lately and even the blushing in response subsided to a minimum. She became not only more tolerant to being hugged, Kagami also occasionally hugged her under the pretext of attempted, but failed, revenge or just because she felt like teasing Konata a little herself. She grew comfortable with the steadily increasing closeness as the distance between her and Konata was reduced bit by bit. Konata didn't mind the development, she was just confused by it because she couldn't find out the 'why' in Kagami's change. She had no idea that her father told Kagami something she rather didn't want her to find out. Still, she really didn't mind the change. To say it in her words, Kagami's dere side finally became dominant. Konata herself didn't change much, mostly because it was hardly possible for her to become any clingier without breaking several boundaries.

Konata also had no time to think about Kagami's change at the moment because she was about to face a medium big disaster. She was in class right now when Kuroi-sensei made an important announcement.

"Great news, everyone, due to a teacher only event, there's going to be no school on Monday!"

Loud cheers erupted through the classroom and everyone was extremely happy about the news, everyone except Konata. She had a complex expression on her face because she remembered something important.

"Sensei, there's also bad news, right? Every time you have good news, bad news are always right behind, whether it's here or online…" Konata's worries caused the class to immediately fall silent and their gazes nervously shifted between Konata and Kuroi-sensei, who sighed in response.

"Fine… you got me there, as a reward for the free day, you all are getting a free surprise test someday in the remaining week." The good mood in the class was instantly gone and Konata was about to complain, but the bell to end the class rang and even before the bell stopped, Kuroi-sensei had vanished out of the room. Everyone in class sighed in defeat and began packing their stuff because the school was over for the day and the weekend was about to start. Konata and Tsukasa, Miyuki had to leave earlier due to a prior engagement, met up a little later with Kagami, who had heard the same news earlier in her class, but she wasn't that affected by it because she studies on a normal basis. The sympathy for Konata and Tsukasa wasn't that high in response.

"Come on, you two, it's not that bad." She still tried to cheer them up a bit in the end.

"Tell me only one good thing about it, Kagamin~." Konata really wasn't happy about it.

"How about that we've gotten a long weekend out of it?"

"Oh! Right!" Their faces lit up again after being reminded of it. The shock was so great that they had completely forgotten about it.

"You two really are hopeless…"

"Sorry, Tsukasa, but I'll be lending your sister throughout the entire weekend for some emergency cramming."

"Okay, no problem here." Tsukasa easily agreed. "I'll be spending the weekend at Yuki-chan's place for the same, once she comes back in the evening today."

"It's settled then!" The two, Konata and Tsukasa, continued to care-freely walk towards the station.

"Oi!" They suddenly heard someone yelling. "Don't you think I should have the right to say something on my own, Konata?"

"Hmm? You don't want to come over?" She innocently tilted her head as she asked.

"That's… not what I wanted to say… but if I come over, we'll also do some more cooking."

"Sure~, a weekend full of gaming and dangerous cooking sounds good."

"What's up with the gaming?" Kagami retorted to the thing she never heard about before first. "Wait, what about studying for the test?"

"Emergency cramming is scheduled for Monday evening or night, depending on how much time we have."

"I wonder about that…" Kagami's glaring made it pretty clear that she had other plans.

"Nah, it's fine, totally fine." Konata had great confidence in her planning skills.

"Well, you're the one who needs the studying out of the two of us, not me. I should manage pretty well even with just a little studying for a change. Although… are you REALLY~ sure you only want to spend so little time studying on the weekend?" Konata usually would've instantly agreed, but there was something in Kagami's voice, that sent shivers down her spine and a cold sweat appeared on her back.

"What's wrong, Kona-chan?" Tsukasa innocently asked as she had no idea on what's going on.

"K-Kagamin~?" Konata also wasn't sure, but her body was in a state of high alertness.

"It's just that every minute we won't spend on studying will get added to my cooking lessons." It didn't sound as bad as Konata had expected.

"Hmm… I'm okay with that." The anxiousness she had before started subsiding, but Kagami was just waiting for Konata to let her guard down.

"Oh, I forgot… I'm really craving for some rice lately." In the moment she announced this fearful information, all color vanished from Konata's face as she stopped in her tracks. Even Tsukasa, who was still walking beside her, almost stumbled over her own feet and started trembling a little.

"A-Ah..!" Konata had no chance of winning since the very beginning. She would either drown in study material or die in a kitchen fire.

"Poor Kona-chan…" Tsukasa was no help and she was happy that she'll be spending the weekend at Miyuki's place.

"So, Konata, what will you do?" Unlike Konata, who had nothing to win, Kagami had nothing to lose. Overall, she was quite happy with the current situation as she broadly grinned.

"Hmm…" Konata started sorting out her options. "Well… whatever, life is too short to take the easy choice." Not that she had any. "I'll take rice option and tell dad to buy a spare fire extinguisher later." She was ready to sacrifice her life in order to not study over the weekend.

"Just because of that remark, we'll be spending the entire time we're not in the kitchen on studying." Her sacrifice was in vain.

"Kaaagaaamiiin…" Konata groaned as she threw a tantrum and looked hopefully at Tsukasa for any help possible but it was no use.

"Oh, hey Yuki-chan." She had just gotten a call from Miyuki at the best time possible for her. "You're going to finish earlier, huh? Great! I'll be at you place an hour earlier than originally planned then."

"Traitor…" Konata quietly mumbled.

Kagami had skillfully ignored Konata's wailing and Tsukasa continued to talk with Miyuki over her phone while trying her best not to get involved. The three were on the train by now and had just arrived at the twin's station.

"Well then, I need some time to prepare so I'll be coming later today, Konata. I'm looking forward to working with you in the kitchen and the studying." Kagami teased her and overly cheerful excited the train.

"Bye and good luck, Kona-chan." Tsukasa quickly followed her sister.

"W-What just happened?" Konata loudly sighed as she stared after the leaving twins. "I really need to step up my game or else Kagamin~ will completely overwhelm me sooner or later…" With her renewed motivation, she started to come up with a plan to at least keep the studying to an absolute minimum.

…..

Konata had made various preparations in the almost two hours that had passed. She decided that she had 'forgotten' most of her study material at school to limit Kagami's rampage. She also had warned her father and ordered him to absolutely not leave his room, no matter what he hears in the kitchen or anywhere else. He reluctantly agreed mainly because he was having a good run with his light novel progress. He was a bit sad he couldn't watch two high school girls spending the weekend together and doing… Konata quickly interrupted his loud thinking, but for some reason, he only got more motivated with his light novel afterward. Lastly, Konata made some slight adjustments to the kitchen. She hid all the bigger pots to keep Kagami from experimenting with too much rice. After she did a single prayer, Konata heard Kagami open the front door with the spare key she gave her before. She had finally learned that ringing the bell was useless.

"Hello…"

"Hey there, Kagamin~, you're pretty early… not that you said when you were coming, though…" Konata came out of the kitchen as she heard her and noticed something. "What's with that huge bag you're carrying there?"

"Duh, clothes and study materials."

"Sure… but it looks like more than just that."

"Well, I actually brought some extra text books just for you, because you probably 'forgot' most of them at school, right?" Kagami looked incredibly smug right now and her grinning only got wider as she looked at Konata's crestfallen face.

"E-Eh…" She couldn't believe her ears. One of her plans had already failed 15 seconds after Kagami entered the house. She really needs to getter at making plans, was one of the things she was thinking right now. Now she could only hope that the cooking lessons would go extremely well so that Kagami's mood would be too good for studying. Unfortunately, for her, rice was the subject of the weekend and that means… she's pretty much screwed.

"Looks like I was right, huh?"

"Well… looks like Kagamin~ knows me well… too well."

"I'm not sure how I should feel about it, though." She wasn't denying it at least.

"Funny, I just thought exactly the same…"

"He." Kagami chuckled a bit. "Whatever, let's go to your room for now."

"Sure, you can go first. I'll get something to drink and be there in a minute." She said and Kagami nodded as he left for her room. Konata turned around and went back to the kitchen to get some chilled tea out of the fridge. She stayed a bit and said her final goodbye to the kitchen in her mind because it's probably the last time she'll see it in its original state and then went back to her room.

"I've got the drinks… Oi…" Konata entered her room and stopped in her tracks when she saw Kagami. "Not even two minutes here and already…" Kagami was lying down on Konata's bed, her chin buried in the pillow while loosely focusing on the light novel she was holding in front of her while kicking her legs in the air from time to time.

"Something's wrong?" Kagami asked as she looked at her while cutely tilting her head a little in the process.

"No… not really." She wanted to say something but quickly changed her mind because Kagami being in this state, totally relaxed, compared to before, was only good for Konata. She quietly thanked the manufacturer of the mattress for infusing it with the special power of taming a wild tsundere and decided to play with her a little. She sneaked up on her and with a little jump, she landed on Kagami's back. Konata leaned forward, next to Kagami's head and took a quick peek at the light novel. "Anything interesting in it?" She quickly asked because reading it herself was too boring and tiring because she was missing the pictures in it.

"I wouldn't be reading it if it weren't interested in it, would I?"

"That's true… What's it about?"

"You should just read it if you're interested."

"Kagamin~…" Konata simply poked her cheek with her finger to answer. Kagami knew perfectly well that she doesn't like reading light novels, but she always tried her luck.

"Fine… I'll give you a summary… It's about a guy who starts playing a virtual reality game and…"

"Ah, let me guess… he got trapped in the game. That's a pretty common thing lately…"

"Nope, he can leave the game whenever he wants. It's more of a comedy story. He starts playing the game with his two sisters and a friend, but the game accidentally identified him as a girl and his sister forced him to play with the female character. The funny thing is, he's actually so feminine in his behavior ingame unconsciously, that no one believes him that he's male in real life. He settles down with being a crafter because he couldn't keep up with his hard-core gamer sisters and friends, mainly because he had also chosen the worst weapon and skills for fighting. He's actually quite successful in crafting various things and soon got famous among other players and crafters to the point he even got hunted down for his discoveries. In the second volume I'm reading here right now, he also picks up the cooking skill and is instantly very talented at it but only further increased his girl power with it. They're currently involved in a camping event as a certain someone jumped on me…"

"Heh~, it sure sounds interesting." Konata actually took a liking to the story and even ignored the relation in cooking skill and a higher girl power, especially coming from Kagami. It probably was a good idea.

"Yeah, I really like it and it even was just an impulse buy without any info on it because I liked the cover of the first volume."

"That's how I found most of my favorite manga, too."

"Now that you're interested in the story, how about…"

"Kagamin~." She tried it again, but Konata's stubbornness was stronger than her own.

"Almost… but hey, I heard that they started adapting the light novel to a manga."

"Really?! That's great, I'm looking forward to reading it… Wait, why would you try to get me to read the novel then?" Konata got a little upset because she almost got tricked into reading a light novel.

"Because it already has several volumes and the manga just started, which means it'll take ages to keep up and isn't the source material almost always better than the adaption?"

"Please don't start with logic now… That's my only weak point."

"Only, huh?" Kagami tried her best to not laugh on the spot.

"Shut up, well, maybe… if I get hooked on the manga and become impatient at some point… I may give the novel a try. Don't get your hopes up, though, I mean, I haven't even read the light novel of my own father."

"Oh, yeah, there's that…" Just hearing her mention the novel of Konata's father, Kagami quickly got a bit embarrassed and her cheeks showed a slight red tint. Konata saw that and got interested in the matter again, but because she really had no interest in reading her father's light novel, she didn't press the issue any further but gave Kagami a little treat instead.

"Speaking of which, he said he's progressing really well with the second volume, especially after I mentioned that you're staying over the weekend for some reason, so, look forward to it."

"E-Ehh? Wait… nevermind… Okay, sure." Kagami tried her best to sound unaffected by it, but she was looking for the second volume, but at the same time, she looked a bit shocked.

…

A little time had passed and Kagami's focus on her light novel started shifting towards something different.

"Konata?"

"Hmm?"

"Is it comfortable up there?"

"It is, thanks for asking." Konata was still sitting on Kagami's back on the bed. Sometime after they stopped talking about the novel, she had casually grabbed a nearby manga and turned around to lay with her own back on Kagami's, facing the ceiling this way while having no worry in the world.

"Mind standing up anytime soon?"

"Wasn't planning on, why?"

"It's getting a bit hot down here, being trapped between you and the bed. It's quite stuffed." Kagami really had become calmer in dealing with this kind of situations. The blush was still present as ever on her face, even though it became less visible, but she could casually hold a conversation with Konata now.

"Hmm… How about that, if we play our usual game for a bit, I'll get off you. I have a feeling that, if we put a bit of effort in, we might be able to beat it today or tomorrow."

"You're pretty sly, Konata." Kagami, again, could see right through her but she decided to play along. It was already evening and the sun had started setting a while ago, studying or concentrating in the kitchen works best on a fresh day after all. Kagami thought so, but the idea of beating the game was also very tempting to her, but admitting it was something different. "Fine, I'll go easy on you today, but we'll go all out tomorrow…"

"Yay… I think, probably..." Konata had mixed feelings as she stood up from Kagami and grabbed the two game controllers on the floor.

They resumed the game where they last left and jumped straight to the next boss battle, who got easily overpowered by the perfect teamplay of Konata and Kagami. He died in record time and the two continued to gain level after level afterward until late at night. They progressed really far and just as Konata had predicted, the two had just passed the checkpoint right before the final boss.

"I guess that's a good point to end. It's late and…" Kagami made the proposal, but for some reason, it wasn't very well received as Konata interrupted her in mid-sentence.

"Ehhh?!" Konata almost yelled in disbelief at her. "What's wrong with you?! How could anyone stop right now? You're being completely unreasonable here!" Konata's priorities were, as always, all over the place when she held her overly dramatic speech.

"Konata…" Kagami wasn't sure what to say and decided to just let out a big sigh.

"Anything wrong?"

"Haa…" She started rubbing her temples as if to fight back a starting headache. "Where should I start? There are so many things wrong here…"

"You can't just stop a game right before the final boss battle and simply go to sleep! Sure, there are still tons of side missions, but we can do them whenever we want. I for sure won't be able to sleep before the boss is dead." She really is passionate about the things she likes.

"If you only would use just a fraction of your energy for school related stuff, you probably could even surpass Miyuki."

"Kagamin~, the only thing I ever would remotely want to surpass her in, is something studying wouldn't help at all…"

"What are you talking about?" Kagami was confused for a second, but she immediately understood as she looked at Konata's dirty grin. "You're such a perverted old man…"

"Thanks."

"I wasn't complimenting you… argh, whatever!" Kagami finally gave up. "I was only joking in the first place… I'm not that cruel to stop right before the last battle."

"That's my Kagamin~, unreasonable, but kind at the same time." Konata's mood instantly got better as her faith in Kagami returned.

"Unreasonable, huh? If I'm unreasonable, what are you then?"

"Me? I'm just perfect, nothing else." Konata answered with a perfectly straight face.

"P-Perfect…" Kagami didn't even try to hold back as she violently started laughing on the spot. It was so hard that she even fell over and rolled up in a ball on Konata's bed.

"Oi!" Konata puffed out her cheeks because she really wasn't happy with the reaction she got. "Want me to jump on you again or what?" She got ready to jump at the laughing ball beside her but it looked like Kagami started calming down again.

"Ah, that was a good one." She finished laughing and wiped a small tear out of her right eye as she sat down normally on the bed again. "Oh man, I almost died just now." She said and Konata finally snapped. She had decided to not jump at her just a second ago, but that was a mistake and the thought of being nice was forgotten instantly. She got on her knees and forcefully jumped at Kagami and tackled her down. Kagami landed on her back and Konata sat down on her stomach. She seemed happy as it looked like she had won over Kagami, she didn't know what she had won, but she also didn't care. However, her grin only lasted for a second or two. Konata looked down at Kagami below her and she had an even bigger grin and Konata got scared a little by it.

"So, what now?" It looked like she had seen through Konata once more again. Like usual, she acted on impulse and had no plan on how to continue. Konata realized the same and started panicking.

"W-Well then… let's finish this boss." She quickly changed her attention to the game again. Kagami chuckled a little at the panicked reaction and decided to let her go for now.

The two, without Konata ever leaving from Konata's stomach, continued the game and about 30 minutes later, the beat the final boss.

"YES!" Konata raised her fist in victory after the enemy fell dead on the floor.

"Wow, that was quite an intense battle." Kagami sighed as the tension left her. She also was very happy that they made it, but was exhausted at the same time.

"All that's left now are the countless side quests."

"Sure, but not today." After the battles fought today, the one ingame and the one on the bed, it got really late and Kagami was tired. "But more importantly…"

"More importantly?"

"How about you finally get off me… again…" She gestured at Konata, who had made herself comfortable on Kagami for the whole boss battle.

"Oh… I totally forgot about that… You're a surprisingly good cushion, Kagamin~." She quickly got off her again and sat down normally on the bed.

"Thanks… but it's time for bed now, let's sleep."

"Okay, I got my object of beating the game cleared, so I'm all good."

Konata saved the game, turned the TV off and both got ready to sleep and lay down and the bed again. Neither did Konata offer a futon nor did Kagami asked for one like usual at this point. After they laid down, Konata switched off the light with a remote and they quickly fell asleep.

…..

The next morning was a little different than usual, no, Kagami was still actively hugging Konata throughout the night, but she also was the first to wake up in the morning for a change. She slowly opened her eyes, blinked a few times and took the scene in front of her in. Kagami was lying on her side and her arms were tightly embracing Konata's waist and resting her head on her shoulder. Konata herself was lying on her back, one of her legs was sandwiched between Kagami's own and the blanket, which was supposed to cover them, was nowhere to be seen.

"W-Well…" Kagami was slightly overwhelmed at the intimate position both were in and started blushing a bit. "I was doubting it a little before, but now that I woke up first… I guess I fully have to accept it that my sleeping habits are a bit… whatever this is." She looked at the situation they were in again. "I probably should let go of her now, so that won't get a free pass for teasing me." Despite what she had just said, she wasn't moving one bit and looked really hesitant. A couple minutes passed, but there was still no change in the situation and it didn't look like Kagami would move anytime soon. "It probably wouldn't change much if I stay a little longer like that, would it?" She loosened her grip around Konata's waist a little for now to let her breathe a bit more freely. "I'm starting to understand why Konata likes walking up like that… Sure, it's super embarrassing, but at the same time, it's really comfortable and calming. Yep, staying like this a little longer is perfectly fine." Kagami's resolve was absolute. She retightened her grip around Konata's waist again and snuggled her head into her shoulder once more. After she found a comfortable spot, Kagami let out a comfortable sigh and quickly fell asleep again.

A little over 20 minutes passed and it was now Konata's time to wake up. She opened her eyes, also blinked a few times and let out a loud yawn and was about to get up before she noticed Kagami besides her. She stopped moving, mainly because she couldn't, and took a better look at her face.

"You can't do that to me, Kagamin~, showing me such a cute sleeping face… You sure play dirty." Konata intensified her gaze at her as she looked at the wide smile on Kagami's face. "How can I try to wake you up now?" She got comfortable on her pillow again after she decided against waking up and continued to look at Kagami's sleeping face until she woke up, which happened a few minutes later.

"Morning…" Konata greeted her as she saw her opening her eyes.

"…Morning…" Kagami slowly greeted her back.

They continued to gaze into each other eyes for some time and their already close face even came a bit closer. Their cheeks, even Konata's, became really flushed and both quickly averted their faces to another direction.

 _'_ _W-What was that just now?!'_ Both screamed the same thought inside their heads and it took some time for them to speak up again.

"S-Slept well, Kagamin~?"

"Y-Yeah, like a baby and you?"

"Same here…"

"That's good." The two had some awkward small talk while fighting back their embarrassment. It worked and both had considerably calmed down again.

"Let's get up for now."

"Yeah, I'm hungry… Time for breakfast."

"Sounds good." Konata readily agreed to Kagami's proposal. She didn't dare to say anything else or even tease her right now.

Both quickly let go of each other, stood up, went down to the kitchen, and had a quick breakfast. It was just some toast with eggs because the big cooking showdown was scheduled for lunch. Konata lucked out for now, or so she thought. They finished eating and went back to her room.

"Let's get some studying done for now."

"Damn…" Konata cursed under her breath but had to play along because she had nothing to divert Kagami's attention to at the moment.

"Nothing to retort, huh?"

"No…" She was again scared at Kagami's skill of looking into her head.

Even so, Konata somehow managed to talk her down to only one subject and both, although one of them reluctantly, diligently studied while Kagami helped Konata with everything she didn't understand. After a painfully long period of studying, Konata's words, and some carefree chatting, it was time for lunch. Both went to the kitchen and Konata actually thought about going back to studying on the way but decided against it. The war was about to start again. The enemy: Small, white grains called rice.

….

"So…"

"Yeah, sooo…" Both girls said and stared some kitchen utensils in front of them and they almost stared back at them in fear. Today's victims were a bowl, a pot including a fitting lid, a measuring cup and last but not least, a small sack of rice.

"You really want to do it?"

"Y-Yes." Kagami's voice cracked a little while answering Konata's question but her resolve was firm. She really wanted to success with the rice.

"Okay…" Konata had to accept her fate.

"Do we start like last time?"

"Hmm…" She thought of the best way to cook rice with her. "No, I think we should try a different approach today."

"Okay, well it can't be worse than last time after all, right?" Kagami carelessly announced and Konata immediately lost her fake composure.

"K-Kagamin~, how could you say that?! Raising such a death flag… Now I'll die for sure! You killed me!" Konata dramatically explained her grave mistake and the only thing Kagami could do in response was to roll her eyes before speaking up again.

"You're done? So, what's that different approach you're talking about?" As soon as the flag was raised, Kagami also immediately crushed it by ignoring again.

"Last time, we used a quick and dirty technique." Konata also brushed it off as if nothing happened. "Quick and dirty as in we just boiled the water and threw the rice in it. It's usually a really fail proof method to cook rice somewhat okay at least, I thought it was the better method for you because of your record and it's less work to do but the constant boiling water was no good, no good at all.

"That's true." Kagami didn't even try to fight back because it had no use because everything was completely true.

"We'll try a more fitting method for making Japanese rice in a pot today."

"Sure, lead the way."

"Okay, first let's wash the rice and I'll explain everything else." Konata gave her a measuring cup and told her to put two full cups of rice in the bowl. One cup per person. It was easy to remember and Kagami promised not to forget it. She thought that it wasn't enough at first, but Konata reassured her that it'll be much more after cooking. After putting the rice in the bowl, Kagami washed the rice until the water stayed clean from rest over starch.

"So far so good." Konata nodded in approval, but everything until now also worked the last times.

"What now?"

"We have to wait. The rice needs to soak for at least 30 minutes in the water."

"I guess we'll wait then…" Kagami being this obedient was rare, but Konata was really grateful for it.

The two went to the living room and waited said 30 minutes. Luckily, for Konata, 30 minutes means exactly one anime episode. She switched the TV on and after the episode, or waiting time, depending on the asked person, ended, they went back to the kitchen.

"Now that the rice has finished soaking, the dangerous part is about to start." Konata steeled her nerves and got ready for the worst.

"I kind of want to hit you right now, but I guess I shouldn't because…" Kagami didn't finish her sentence but Konata still understood what she means. The disaster-success score wasn't in Kagami's favor.

"Thanks for sparing me." She made a little joke and continued with her explanation. Kagami got rid of the water where the rice soaked in and poured the rice in a pot, just as told and also added two and a half cups of water to it and closed the lid. A little more than one cup per cup of rice, as explained by Konata afterward.

"I guess preparations are complete, right?" She asked and Konata nodded.

"Yes… but that means we need to start… boiling it."

"O-Okay." Konata's nervousness was contagious, but Kagami still, although hesitantly, turned up the heat on the stove. The rice started boiling pretty quick and because of that, she reduced the heat again because, according to Konata, it only needs to simmer or rather steam now.

"W-Wait a moment…" Konata started looking around and seemed pretty confused. "We're alive? Why are we alive?!"

"D-Don't ask me!" Kagami was equally surprised at the disaster that didn't happen.

"We haven't won just yet, but this is… I wasn't expecting this kind of progress at all!" She couldn't contain her astonishment and Kagami's reaction wasn't any different but she still got a bit angry and playfully nudged Konata's shoulder.

"Have a little faith in me, okay?"

"I tried, but… whatever, the rice needs to steam for about 20 minutes, let's just hope for the best.

The following 20 minutes were the most nerve-wracking both ever had in their lives. Konata moved with each passing minute a little further away because she felt doom lingering right above or rather in front of her again. The pot was releasing a very ominous looking aura in her eyes. Kagami on the hand was getting nervous to a dangerous point. She started cycling around the pot and was steadily increasing her pace. Konata, who started watching her instead of the pot, even got a little dizzy because of her. Very long 20 minutes finally passed, but the odyssey wasn't completely over. Konata removed the pot from the stove, but it had to rest for about ten additional minutes with the lid closed.

"It's over, nothing catastrophic can happen anymore. Sure, the rice could be burned, overcooked, undercooked or whatever, but…"

"Are you trying to console me or…"

"How should I know what I'm doing here, Kagamin~?! I just wanted to say something…" Konata managed to lift the mood just by saying something stupid and caused both of them to laugh for a while. The remaining minutes were spent in silence and the tension returned. It was time and Konata had to open the lid because Kagami was too nervous. She looked inside and…

"It's…"

"I knew it…" The disappointment was written all over her face.

"… perfectly fine looking rice." Konata finished her overly long dramatic pause.

"You… You… Kagami got angry, but it only lasted for a split second. "W-Wait… y-you mean… No, it can't be… No way!" She was extremely bewildered and confused to the point where she forgot how to speak in sentences. "REALLY?!"

"It certainly looks like it." Konata could only smile at the enthusiastic reaction from Kagami, but she herself was also extremely happy and proud. She tried a bit of the rice and her smile promptly got a bit wider. "It's good, here, have a taste." Konata took another sample and offered it to Kagami who quickly tasted it.

"It's… It's really rice…" Her voice trembled a little. "I-I did it… I really made rice!" Kagami was absolutely euphoric and suddenly jumped at Konata in front of her, locking her in a bear crushing hug. Konata was surprised at first, but soon welcomed it and let her do as she pleased. She lifted Konata in the air and suddenly started spinning around in the kitchen. Konata had never seen Kagami this happy before.

"K-Kagamin~, I'm also pretty happy but please stop at least with the spinning. I don't want to survive the rice just to die in the aftermath." Konata got a little scared by the various obstacles in the kitchen, but Kagami soon stopped and let her down but she didn't release her.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" She repeatedly thanked her and with every thank you, she embraced her more tightly.

"K-Kagamin~… can't… breathe…"

"S-Sorry…" She realized the state Konata was in and released her grip just enough to let Konata breathe again.

"Thanks…" Konata took a deep breath and her facial color turned to normal again. She was finally able to relax a little and thanks to Kagami's happiness being contagious, her smile increased again. She, too, was incredibly happy and finally returned Kagami's one-sided hug. "You did well, Kagamin~."

The two continued their embrace in the kitchen for a minute or two and Konata had an idea.

…..

"Yuki-chan, can you help me with this problem here?"

"Which one is it?" Miyuki bent slightly over the table to look at the problem Tsukasa had difficulties with. Both were in her room and currently studying. Ever since Kagami started spending so much time with Konata, Tsukasa usually spends her time at Miyuki's place and this weekend was no exception.

"Hmm?" Tsukasa suddenly felt her phone vibrating. "Oh, it's onee-chan. Hey onee-chan, what's up?"

"Tsukasa?!" She was expecting her sister, but the voice she heard was different.

"Kona-chan? Did something happen? You sound really excited." Tsukasa noticed the different tone in her voice. Kagami had calmed down a little and Konata could finally get a bit excited.

"She did it! She really did it, Tsukasa!"

"Huh? Onee-chan did what?" She was pretty confused due to the complete lack of information. It looked like Miyuki also got interested as she tilted her head after hearing those words.

"I DID IT!" The sister Tsukasa was expecting in the first place didn't help at all in understanding what was going on.

"C-Calm down, onee-chan… Kona-chan, what happened?" She called out to Konata again because she had the feeling her sister wasn't going to be useful, judging by the scream.

"Rice… Kagamin~ made rice and destroyed neither the kitchen nor killed me in the process!"

"EHHH?! S-Seriously?" Now it was Tsukasa, who started to freak out, which made Miyuki tilting her head even more but she stayed silent. "There's no way that's true! You… and onee-chan… that can't be!" Tsukasa's poor choice of words made Miyuki even flinch in surprise. It was really easy to misunderstand after all.

"W-What?" Staying silent wasn't an option anymore.

"Oh, sorry Yuki-chan, Kona-chan wants to tell me that she succeeded in teaching onee-chan how to make rice! Unbelievable, right?"

"Ehhh?" Even though Miyuki said the same as Tsukasa in reaction, the meaning was completely different. Her voice was full of disappointment. ' _Seriously?!'_ She immediately slumped down on her place again as her excitement vanished. "Yeah… unbelievable…"

The back and forth between Konata and Tsukasa over the phone continued for a couple minutes until Konata could finally make her believe it. Tsukasa was greatly shocked.

"It's true… Kona-chan is an alien after all..."

…..

"Tsukasa sure doesn't trust your cooking skill at all, Kagamin~" Konata joked after the call was over.

"Oh, you, shut up…" Kagami jokingly answered as she removed one arm from Konata's waist, yes, they were still hugging each other, and lightly hit Konata on her head.

"Hehe…"

"Oh…" Now it was Kagami's phone that wanted attention. "Hey mom, I did it! I finally made rice!"

"That was quick." Konata guessed that she would call soon because Tsukasa guaranteed told her already.

"That's great. Can you give me Konata for a second?" Miki more or less ignored her.

"Huh? S-Sure?" She didn't fully understand why. "Here Konata, mom wants to talk with her favorite child."

"Okay." Konata grabbed the phone and Kagami was a bit confused that neither Konata nor her mother on the phone said something to her remark.

"Hey Miki, what's up?"

"Don't -what's up- me… I just got a call from Tsukasa. Are you serious?" Miki really is the mother of Tsukasa. Konata thought so after getting the exact same reaction from the second person today.

"Yep."

"Eh… You're not hurt, right? All body parts are still there? An exploding pot didn't hit your head and you're just imagining things?"

"Wow… Miki, you sure are…" She couldn't even find words. "Yes, I'm perfectly fine and so is the kitchen oh, and your daughter, too. I also haven't dreamed it or saw a movie about it and mixing things up either before you ask." Konata quickly denied a few things before Miki couldn't even ask.

"Just what are you?" It looked like she finally started accepting reality, in her own way.

"-What-, huh? I'm just someone with great compatibility to Kagamin~."

"Oi!" Someone wasn't so sure about that compatibility.

"Okay, that's it. I've decided, marriage preparations are starting next week. Take good care of her. Oh, and please tell her."

"Eh?" More wasn't possible for Konata.

"Well then, take care and bye." And just like that, Miki ended the call and the storm left behind a bewildered Konata.

"Ehhh?"

"W-What's wrong?" Kagami got rather confused at the sudden change in her behavior.

"W-Wait… what… ehh?"

"Just what did my mother say to you?"

"Ehm… Kagamin~, hypothetically speaking… if your mother says that she decided on something, how possible is it for her to be just joking?"

"Well, she often jokes about things, but once she decided on something, it's 100% and absolutely going to happen." She cluelessly explained to Konata and her already confused face got even more complex.

"I-I see… ehm… well… that's…"

"Just. What. Happened?" Kagami started to get worried. Konata, on the other hand, got strangely conscious of the fact that she was still being hugged by her. She quickly put her hands on Kagami's shoulder and with a bit of pushing force, she separated herself from her. Being told 'that' by Miki and the embracement at the same time was too much for Konata to take in and so she had to put a bit of distance between the two. It had a way stronger effect on her than last time Miki joked about it, the feeling was completely different and confused Konata greatly.

"That's…" After she got a bit of distance from Kagami and some time to deeply breathe in and out a few times, she finally calmed down to some extent. "Please ask your mother about that yourself…"

"As if she would ever tell me anything." Kagami has a point, Miki likes to tease her too much after all.

"Neither will I." Unfortunately, for Kagami, Konata was no different when it comes to that.

"Haa… looks like I was worried for nothing after all."

"Thanks for worrying, Kagamin~." It was impossible to say whether Konata was serious, or just teasing her again, but it looked like she was okay again in Kagami's eyes, at least on the surface. 'Miki was just joking, right? There's no way she's serious right? Yep, she's joking! I mean Kagamin~ and I are…' Konata was intensely arguing with herself, but soon got interrupted by the person that's part of the reason for her inner fight.

"Konata? What's going on, you're making quite the interesting face there." The internal conflict was apparently even present on her face.

"Ah… nothing, just thinking about… stuff. Yeah, just the usual stuff, nothing else!"

"Okay…" Kagami wasn't buying it, but the usual stuff is something she doesn't want to know about because it's Konata and so the chances are high that it's nothing a high school girl should think about. It actually was a good plan to keep her from further questioning Konata. "So, now that I mastered the boss called 'rice', what now?"

"First, Kagamin~, nice one. Looks like my efforts in raising you aren't wasted." Konata looked so incredibly smug right now that Kagami had great difficulties not to smack her. "Second, you haven't mastered it yet because you only made it successfully once. Well… on the other hand, it's not like you really have to master rice… I guess it's fine with stopping the rice thing…"

"Hmm? Why is it fine now all of the sudden?"

"Oh man… I already have a bad feeling." Konata started hesitating for some reason. "You know, that thing that basically every Japanese household has? The thing called rice cooker? You know, wash the rice, put it, press a button and you're done?"

"Eh?" In the exact moment, Konata finished her short explanation, something inside Kagami shattered. She tilted her head and her lifeless eyes stared right through Konata at nothing in particular. Konata had successfully broken her. Kagami titled her head in the other direction and blinked multiple times. "H-Huh?" She didn't understand anything anymore. "Wait… wait… wait a moment… what was that?"

"Hmm? You mean about the rice cooker?" Konata also was having a hard time, but for an entirely different reason. She focused all her might on not starting to laugh on the spot, mainly because Kagami would kill her then, even faster that is.

"No, it's about that flying cat in your garden… WHAT ELSE COULD I MEAN?!"

"…" Konata was losing it, no she had already lost it. She pressed both hands to her mouth to suppress her laughing, but it was no use. She started laughing and it was impossible for her to calm down for a minute or two. After it finally started subsiding a little, she wiped away a tear of joy and breathed heavily. "Haa… haa… that was… perfect…" She had a great time. Had.

"Ko-na-ta…" Kagami slowly said her name as she completely snapped. The air in the kitchen completely froze and every chuckle Konata still gave off was instantly gone. Her tsundere radar sensed danger like never before. She was in big trouble and decided to slowly back away while trying to calm her down.

"K-Kagamin~ please calm down and listen before you actually kill me, okay?" She was fearing for her very life and nothing else. "W-We had a perfectly fine reason for not telling you about it."

"I'm all ears, Ko-na-ta." Kagami was often scary before, but the feeling Konata had right now surpassed everything before. "And who's we?"

"Miki, Tsukasa and I are we… I mean, they haven't told you either, right?"

"Eh?" Kagami got a little surprised at the sudden revelation and her hellish anger had a little confusion mixed in now. Konata was deeply relieved for even a slight change, but she wasn't so stupid to let her guard down just now. The enemy is just waiting for it after all.

"The two probably had the same idea I had."

"And what glorious idea is that?"

"It's all good if you only use the rice cooker, but you should still at least know how to make it on your own. It's kind of like math in school. You could easily use a calculator to solve everything but it's kind of stupid if you can't do it without one."

"Huh?" Kagami couldn't believe her ears. Her eyes grew big and she blinked a few times to make sure it was real. Her anger was put on hold. The problem wasn't that Konata had a point, it was how she made the point. She had used the school as a reference, not only that, it was a rational reference Kagami could relate to. It went completely past her expectations of Konata. Kagami tried to say something as she opened her mouth, but she was too shocked. "Ehh… uhh… I… whaaat?" It was no use, her brain wasn't able to process it and she continued to stare open-mouthed at Konata.

"Not good, huh? I tried to use a school related reference to make it easier for you to understand but…"

"N-No, nonono, that's exactly the problem here! I can absolutely understand what you mean and that's what scares me the most… Are you alright, Konata?" It looked like Konata is going to survive it. Kagami had considerably calmed down and even started teasing her. Konata should've gotten angry at the complete lack of trust or tease back, but she didn't because she was too happy to be alive and didn't want to risk it.

"Haa…" She exhaled deeply. The tension and she got down on her knees because all remaining strength had left her. "Man, I was never this scared of you before, Kagamin~."

"You sure know how to make a scene." Kagami could only roll her eyes in response.

"No, I actually seriously thought it's game over for me."

"Well, it kind of was a close call so I can't really blame you." Kagami laughed a bit but her eyes told a different story. It was by no mean a joke and Konata started feeling uncomfortable again.

"Wow, I really dodged a bullet there…"

"But still… doing something like that to me… you three sure a cruel…" She got a little depressed over it.

"Ignoring our reasoning, how did you feel after finally being successful?"

"It felt great! I think I never felt this accomplished before." Kagami's eyes started shining as she remembered it with a smile on her lips.

"For that alone, it was worth it, wasn't it? You wouldn't feel like that with a rice cooker."

"You're right. I'm sorry for getting so angry earlier, Konata."

"No, don't worry about it. It's only natural to react like that. I think I would've reacted at least similar." Konata reassured her because she knew that she absolutely earned the received anger.

"Although… I still think I have to punish you later." Kagami was fine after all as she teased Konata again who just turned pale.

"P-Please be gentle." Konata managed to make a little joke in midst of the lingering danger. They looked each other in the eyes for a couple seconds and after suppressing a few giggles, both finally started laughing.

"Haa…" Their laughing died down after a while. "It's great how much I can relax around you, Konata." Kagami suddenly and out of nowhere dropped a little bomb on her who wasn't expecting something like that at all. Konata's cheeks actually got a little red.

"T-Thanks… same here." She awkwardly agreed. _'You can't just get that cute on me without a warning, Kagamin~! It's not good for my heart!'_

"You're very welcome." Her sincere reply didn't help at all.

"S-Sure…" Kagami became dangerous again, but for a very different reason. _'Gah, stop it! I can't take it! What's up with that adorable creature in front of me?'_ Her face got a bit redder again and looked a bit feverish because of that.

"Huh? You didn't catch a cold, right?" Whether it was intentional or not, nobody could tell, but her eyes looked suspicious, Kagami quickly delivered a finishing blow to Konata. She first brushed away her own hair and then Konata's, once the hair wasn't in the way anymore, she pressed her forehead against Konata's own to check her temperature in the most embarrassing way.

"W-Wha-" It was Konata's turn to break. She couldn't keep with her anymore. The situation was beyond her comprehension. It should be the other way around, but Kagami leveled up too much lately and she finally went past the level Konata could handle effortlessly. After verifying her temperature, Kagami backed off a little and tilted her head in a way too cute manner.

"Hmm…" She intensely stared at Konata afterward. "It doesn't feel like you have a fever… Wait…" She noticed something and started grinning. She was playing! She was definitely playing with Konata! "Don't tell me you're just embarrassed and blushing because of it? Ha, this is perfect!" Every remaining part of Konata's face also turned red in response.

"…" Konata didn't answer, no, she couldn't answer. She looked a couple seconds in utter bewilderment at her, then turned around and simply left for her room because she couldn't take it anymore.

"Oi! Konata, wait!" Kagami yelled and started following her. Konata was already in her room and Kagami decided to give her two minutes out of consideration and then entered.

"Hey Kona, are you alright?" So much for consideration. She was still on a high and decided to even start calling her with a nickname in this situation but Konata still didn't answer. She was lying on her bed and had her head buried under the pillow. Kagami sat down next to her on the bed and began gently stroking her back, causing Konata to flinch. "You know that you can tell me if something's wrong, Kona." She said so, but she really did not intend to help her at all.

"Mmffm mmmfm…" It almost sounded like Konata wanted to say something, but because she was buried under the pillow, only muffled sounds could be heard. _'W-What the… just what is going on here?!'_ Konata's thoughts weren't muffled, though. _'Who is that person and what has she done to my Kagamin~? It can't be her, right?! T-There's no way Kagamin~ could drive that much into a corner. She's just delivering blow after blow…'_ As if Kagami could read her mind, she started to continue her relentless assault. She lifted up the pillow and placed her head right next to Konata's, she was basically lying right next to Konata on the bed and looked at her face. _–badump- 'What's now…'_ Konata's mental health wasn't in a good condition.

"Hmm? Hey Kona, did your face just became redder?" Kagami continued to stare at her face until Konata couldn't bear it any longer and turned around to the other side because her stare almost hurt. "Aww, so shy…"

"H-Hey K-Kagamin~…" She finally managed to get some kind of words out.

"What is it, Kona?

"Uhh… W-What is going on here? I… I…"

"What do you mean? Everything is normal, isn't it?" Kagami feigned innocence.

"N-No… no, no, NO! There are many fitting words, but normal… no, normal is not one of them!" Konata finally regained the ability to talk. Her face was still completely flushed, but it was getting a better now that she was able the retort again.

"I overdid it a little, huh? Haa… that was exhausting…" Kagami's façade crumbled and her real motive started leaking out.

"W-What… Wait… What? Ehh?!" Konata's face instantly went from red to pale as she heard her words.

"I'm a bit scared of your next revenge now… but that sure was worth it." Kagami smirked at Konata who went into shock.

"T-That was just an act?!" N-No way… You're a monster! W-Why?"

"Did you really think all I would say is 'eh, it's fine' after the rice cooker thing?" Kagami was angry after all in the end.

"Wow…" Konata deeply inhaled multiple times to get down to a normal level again. "You're quite… wow… I never would've thought you had this much power in you. I'm impressed… no, wait, I'm scared at your true form. You're really scary, Kagamin~."

"It was all just on a whim, though…" She casually remarked.

"Do you think that makes it better? No, it makes it ten times worse and scarier!"

"Well, I learned from the best after all." Kagami looked at her again while giving her a cheeky smirk.

"No, wait a moment, don't make me responsible for this, you went way past everything I ever taught you."

"Hmm… you may be right there… Well, I had my fun and your reactions were really cute too, Kona." Konata wasn't so sure if she's really done here. She was having mixed feelings about it.

"Give me a break already, Kagamin~…" She really wanted to stop her to calm her heart a little.

"Okay… fine, I'll stop for now." She gave her another smirk. "But I kind of like the nickname. I think I'll stay with 'Kona' now."

"S-Sure, do whatever you want…" Konata had finally given up on hope.

The two spent the next couple of minutes in silence. Kagami finally gave her some time to breathe and Konata had simply nothing to say. Both remained on the bed, but Kagami had changed her position. She was lying on her back with her hand behind her head and her legs crossed. She overall looked pretty happy and satisfied with herself. Konata, on the other hand, had retrieved her pillow and it was over her head again. She occasionally let out some muffled sounds, but none of it was even remotely understandable. She still was really embarrassed and the incredible smug looking Kagami next to her wasn't much of a help. The muffled sounds continued for some time until Kagami finally had enough of Konata throwing a tantrum. She grabbed the pillow and got rid of it again and also turned Konata around to face her again. Konata was lying on her back now and Kagami simply sat down on top of her to keep her from running away. She had no idea her pride would be hurt that much, or so she thought. Both looked each other in the eyes once more and Konata's bashfulness suddenly vanished, instead, an evil looking grin appeared. She did a complete 180 and Kagami had a bad feeling now.

"Ka-ga-min~." Yes, it was bad. "That was a mistake… I've decided, your next Cosplay is going to be a naked bunny girl costume!"

"E-Eh?! Just what is a naked bunny girl?"

"You know the bunny ear things for your head, right?"

"Yes?" Konata looked up and down on her and shivers immediately went down Kagami's spine.

"That's the only thing you're going to wear… and maybe stockings for… uhm… reasons." Konata made this bold statement and Kagami didn't go just pale, she was as white as a ghost.

"W-What…" She really didn't take it well as she continued to stare open-mouthed at Konata below her.

"Is something wrong, Kagamin?"

"No… wait, of course is something wrong here!" She almost made a grave mistake. _'Calm down me, you can't let her win now.'_

"Oh? Nah, I was just kidding, it would be also bad for me…" Tsundere rage wouldn't even begin to describe the apocalyptic events.

"Yeah, because I would kill you."

"Yeah, let's go with that." Tsundere rage was definitely one of her fears but her eyes said more. _'It would also be bad for my heart…. Wait… did I just got excited there for a moment?! Don't tell me Kagamin~ v2 from earlier still has an effect on me?'_

"Okay?" Kagami looked a bit confused, every other feeling she had at the moment got completely ignored the moment she thought about them.

Their ongoing gazing into each other eyes started becoming a bit uncomfortable and both averted their eyes. A weird atmosphere started to build around them.

"H-How about we play a bit more of our game, do a few side missions or something like that, Kagamin~?"

"S-Sounds good, I'm in." Kagami normally would've suggested more studying, but the atmosphere didn't leave any room for hesitating.

They played their game for some time, but decided to end the day early to go to bed. Both just wanted to sleep and have a fresh start because the weird atmosphere kept lingering over them even while gaming and even more, Konata was really exhausted for several reasons.

….

* * *

.

Directly continued in the next chapter. Just splitted because of lenght reasons.


	17. Changes and Tension (Part 2)

Continuation of the last chapter. Nothing new if you read the unsplitted version before.

.

* * *

The next morning, Sunday.

"Hmm… Weird…" Something was different.

"Don't tell me you're disappointed, Kona." The nickname stuck, though.

"N-No… just surprised, I guess?"

"I see…" The weird thing was that nothing happened. Kagami had managed to sleep without her personal body pillow, Konata, through the night. Not only this, both ended up sleeping more or less at the edges of the bed, maintaining as much distance as possible. The weird air around them seemed to be still there today. The situation was a bit complicated. Both, mainly Kagami though, had overdone it a bit yesterday. As a result to this, both unconsciously decided to put a bit of distance between them. Konata didn't exactly dislike Kagami's whatever it was but she got so embarrassed as a result that it was impossible for her to remain unfazed. Konata's bunny girl idea also left some marks behind.

"Let's take it nice and slow today, Kagamin~. I'm not in the mood for… a lot…"

"Sure, let's have a nice and slow study session all day long." No matter what or how she did, Konata had no chances of winning whatsoever.

Even though it wasn't her first wish, by far, the change of pace was actually not taken in that bad by her. Konata did not make as much progress as Kagami, but she actually stayed silent and made a good amount of progress. Most of the day had passed while they were studying and the weird atmosphere was as good as gone and both were finally back to normal. It was easily visible by Konata, who wasn't as silent and diligent anymore.

"Kagamin~, let's do something else already!"

"It was your idea to take it easy…"

"Yeah… sure, but that's not exactly what I meant… watching a movie, for example, is also taking it easy…"

"That means you want to watch a movie?"

"Uhh… yeah, sure, why not… Good idea, Kagamin~." She had just voiced the first thing that flew through her head.

"Okay, whatever…" Kagami didn't feel like arguing right now. "Well, I have to give you some kind of reward for studying so long after all."

"That's for sure!" Konata really was back to normal again.

They went with the idea of watching a movie in the end. Konata grabbed the TV remote and searched for something interesting. Both weren't in the mood for anything related to romance for some reason and settle for some good old comedy.

…..

Monday morning. Thanks to the long weekend, both had another free day and that was a good thing because they had slept in a bit. The two watched movies until late at night and went way over the point of going to bed at a reasonable time, according to Kagami, and had to waste some hours from the next day as a result. Konata didn't care about it all right now, though, she also wouldn't on any other day… The situation from yesterday morning was a one-time only thing, Kagami didn't manage to live longer than a day without a hug pillow. The hug pillow was actually a bit relieved by that. Konata did say no yesterday, but she actually was a bit disappointed in the morning, but it probably was a good thing yesterday.

"Heee… Waking up like this is better after all." Konata let out a comfortable sigh as she stretched herself a little while waking up, although, her moves were a bit restricted. She was lying on her right side and Kagami was behind her. She had pulled her in close and the only thing Konata could see from Kagami, was her arms wrapped around her waist and the faint feeling of Kagami's breath in her neck was probably the reason she woke up in the first place. "It tickles a little, but I can't say it's bad… rather, it feels really nice actually. I'm calming more and more down with every breath I feel." Konata was slowly entering a state of complete relaxation and snuggled a little closer again her. Kagami in response seemed to realize this in her sleep and tightened her grip a little. Konata was about to fall asleep again, but she started feeling a slight change in the breathing of Kagami who also started stirring a bit.

"Good morning, Kagamin~."

"… Mor-ning~…" She wasn't exactly awake just yet and gave Konata's body another squeeze.

"Hmm… am I really that comfortable?"

"Why else would I do it...? You make a great hug pillow after all…" She definitely was still half asleep.

"I see… makes sense." She wasn't sure how to respond.

Another five minutes passed and Kagami finally regained full conscious. She loosened her grip around Konata and rolled on her back.

"Morning, Kona."

"M-Morning?" She felt a slight déjà vu. Didn't they had this already?

"Man, I had such a weird dream…"

"Oh, was is about having a personal hug pillow?" Konata had realized that Kagami wasn't really awake earlier.

"E-Eh? N-No… of course not… Why would I?" She was easy to read sometimes as she started blushing from her assumption. Konata was very delighted by the reaction because lately, it became quite hard to get Kagami embarrassed because she really got the upper hand.

"Kagamin~." She was enjoying every second of it. "I heard you saying it earlier."

"H-Huh? I… I actually said it out loud?"

"Yep."

"I see…" One awkward pause later. "Let's have some breakfast, I'm hungry." The topic was completely ignored by her. She even gave her a free pass to tease her with something else. Kagami quickly left the bed and went out of the room. It took Konata a little to realize something.

"Wait a moment… Kagamin~ didn't deny it." She really didn't, but Konata also realized something else. "Oi! Wait for me!" She quickly ran after her.

Part of the hugging case was solved. The 'why isn't a mystery anymore. Konata was actually a bit surprised because it actually was more or less what she joked about all the time, Kagami actually liking to hug her and doing it unconsciously. The 'how' part was now the interesting question. Konata was thinking about installing a camera in her room again, but then she remembered the tsundere rage and now, with the leveled up Kagami, it was a bigger threat than ever. A thread she couldn't ignore and decided against the camera once more. Konata actually became a bit bothered by Kagami, who overtook her.

Breakfast was done quickly and she once more decided on something weird.

"Kagamin~, we should spend as much time as possible together now. I'll be soon leaving for the mountains."

"Sure, have fun." Kagami dryly answered. "By the way, how about some context?"

"I have to train myself and in order to that, I have to leave. Training is supposed to be done in the mountains, right?"

"If you say so… So, what's this training about."

"I need to level up! Your teasing abilities developed way too fast and way too far. I'm pretty sure you're cheating, Kagamin~."

"Ah, it's about that…"

"Exactly! Because of that, I'm going to spend the next three months in the mountains!" She actually sounded serious and Kagami was worried, for various reasons.

"No, leaving school for that long is…" Kagami couldn't agree with her idea and staying out of school was only one reason.

"Kagamin~, you just don't want to lose your lead, don't you?"

"N-no, of course not…" Bullseye.

"Or is it because you're going to miss me when I'm gone?" For what was the training again?

"That's… ehm…" Another bullseye. She really didn't need the training. Konata once more caught her off guard. Kagami quickly started blushing and turned her head away.

"Hmm~." Konata had a pretty satisfied expression on her face. _'Huh? She didn't deny it again… D-Don't tell me she's plotting something again?!'_ Thanks to the events of the weekend, Konata developed some slight trust issues and started doubting her 'dere-meter' and so the thought of Kagami just being honest didn't cross her mind.

"You were thinking something rude just now, weren't you, Kona?"

"E-Eh? Of course not, why would I?"

"I don't know why, but your face is pretty easy to read after all."

"As I thought, I have to immediately leave for the mountains!" She declared once more and let the table in order to prove her statement. Konata looked at Kagami to see her reaction, but then she quickly sat down again. "Don't look at me like that, Kagamin~… Ah, I know! Just come with me to the mountains."

"What's the reason to go there in the first place then? If we're going to train together…" Konata's plan had a problem, well, several to be exact but that was the most obvious right now.

"Okay, change of plans, let's all go camping in the mountains." Her ability to adapt surely was something else.

"What's up with you and the mountains?" Kagami had no idea why she liked the mountains this much all of a sudden.

"There's a new anime about hiking currently airing and…" She's really easy influenced.

"Haa… I should've known… Kona, you know that there's no electric in the mountains, right? No power means no anime..."

"Screw the mountains!" The change of pace was quick, even for Konata's standards and Kagami sighed again.

"What was I worried for again?"

"Oho, so Kagamin~ was worried."

"Argh!" She gasped at her sudden slip of the tongue. She really did become unconsciously more honest with herself. Kagami wasn't sure what to say and took the easy but approved route out, fleeing. She stood up from the table in the kitchen where they had breakfast before and left for Konata's room.

"Running away, huh?" No reaction. "Ah, wait for me!" Therefore, the two were in her room again, Konata quickly started searching for a new activity in order to keep Kagami away from the outrageous idea of studying for school, and she found an older fighting game.

"How about a good old Beat 'em up, Kagamin~?"

"Hmm? Sure, why not…" She was happy enough that Konata wasn't pressuring the thing in the kitchen and so she let her have her will for now.

"Yay, but don't think I'll go easy on you!"

"When did you ever go easy on me?"

"Fair enough…"

"And I don't mean just games."

"I get it already! Shut up and get beaten."

"Someone is getting a bit full of herself, huh?"

Konata started the game, both chose their favorite character and the first match started. In the beginning, it was business as usual, but something unexpected soon happened. Kagami made a splendid comeback and started to utterly destroy Konata in every match.

"Wha-? What's going on here?" She couldn't believe what she saw on the TV screen. Konata saw the K.O. screen for easily over the tenth time as her character hit the floor. "You're cheating, right, Kagamin~?"

"Maybe I'm just better than you…"

"Nope, you're cheating."

"Thanks for your blunt and useless honesty." Kagami didn't want to accept it, but there really was no way she could be that better than Konata in a game.

"It just has to be it because… If Kagamin~ really became better in a game… I… yep, that would mean up to the mountains for real this time. I had to get a generator and that's it then…" It affected her way more than Kagami had expected.

"Stop with the mountains already." She really didn't want her to leave. "How about we switch the controllers for now, maybe something's wrong with yours." Konata happily agreed with the proposal and swiftly switched the controller with Kagami. The tables quickly turned back again and Kagami's character was now the one to repeatedly kiss the floor.

"Ah, that's how it's supposed to be after all." Konata's spirits were immediately lifted as when the usual outcome was restored again.

"As I thought, a button on the controller is broken."

"Hmm… I guess I was a bit too rough with it in the beginning…

"Do you have a spare?"

"Yeah, my wear-out of them is pretty high after all. There should be a new one in the room right next to mine."

"Okay, I'll go and get because I can't expect you to go…"

"That's my Kagamin~."

She stood up after Konata showed no sign of going on her own and left the room. She opened the door to the room she never entered before and after looking inside, Kagami gasped in shock.

"W-What's up with this room? Hey, Kona!"

"Haa… I should've known better." Konata sighed in her room and went to Kagami. "What's up?"

"Really? Well, let's ignore the 1000 manga in here for now…"

"It's a storage room after all…"

"Whatever. What's with these frigging huge figures on the floor?!" Kagami pointed at nine about 60cm [~2feet] tall anime figurines, which were still in their original packaging. Even though they were nine in total, only three were different characters and three of each.

"Ah… well, they're my monument of shame or something like that…"

"Your what?"

"They're from a super unpopular magical girl anime, which only got like three episodes before being canceled. I don't know why, but they still made these figures. I saw them and I just had to buy all of them for some reason. I mean they look cool, but still…"

"Well… the right one is kind of cute…" Kagami looked at the three same looking figures on the right side. She was a little smaller than the other two and had shorter blue hair tied in a single sidetail. It was pure coincidence, but she looked more or less like the spitting image of Konata only with a different hairstyle and super frilly clothes. "You don't have a wand and similar clothes, do you, Kona?"

"Oi!" Konata was not amused by the remark but had an idea. "I'll think about it if you do the same. I mean…" She pointed at the tsundere like looking figure in the middle. "You know…"

"Hmm… I'll think about."

"Eh?! Seriously?"

"Hmm~."

"Kagamin~. Shopping. Now!"

"Nah, another time… Let's get the controller and look who's really better."

"B-But… the Cosplay… Oi, Kagamin~… the Cosplay!" Konata was seriously thrown out of her tracks. "Maybe the figures weren't such a fail if I get Kagamin~ to Cosplay again…"

"Sure… Anyway, how much did they even cost?"

"About 5000¥ or so." [~45€/50$/38£]

"Wow, that's quite a good price for nine figures… especially so big ones."

"Eh, no… each of them…"

"Huh, you paid 45000¥ for something you weren't really interested in in the first place? I mean it's still a good price and all but… What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"Kagamin~, they're a limited edition and it was a sale… How could I not?" Her stupidly smug grin annoyed Kagami much more than she wanted to admit.

"Haa… I give up… It's no use… arguing with you, that is."

"But maybe I should get a haircut. Looks like Kagamin~ likes shorter hair.

"Huh?"

"Well, you said that that the one figure looked cute and she basically looks like me…" There was no way after all that Konata didn't hear it. "A figure looking like me being cuter than I am, nope, that's a big no-go!" Her competitiveness is also something else with her rival being a figure.

"You don't need to cut your hair for that or rather, no, don't cut your hair!" The hair wasn't the reason Kagami liked the figure in the first place.

"W-What?" Konata took another serious blow because Kagami was getting the upper hand again in her eyes. They soon reached her room again, but it was no time for her feeling safe.

"So, are we going to continue the game or what?"

"Huh? D-Don't tell me you were just trying to break me in order to win the game, Kagamin~?

"Hmm… I wonder…" She smirked at Konata and disappeared into the room.

"I'm scared… I'm so scared of the new Kagamin~ v2… I'll start looking for appropriate mountains starting tomorrow!"

"Stop with the mountains already! You're not going!" Even though she was already in Konata's room, Kagami still yelled at her.

"Scary!"

Konata tried to calm down a little and went back to her room to resume the game. Kagami's psychology warfare, it really was that what she did, actually worked to some extent. The fighting strength of the two was more or less the same, Kagami even had a slight lead until now, but Konata's pride started to act up and she decided to resort to dirty tricks. Kagami was about to unleash a combo attack on Konata's character to finish her, but Konata poked Kagami's side just at the exact moment. In result to this, she flinched a bit and messed up her attack. Konata immediately used the advantage and achieved a quick victory.

"Oi!" Kagami was not exactly happy about that.

Konata repeated the same tactic two more times and was about to do it a third time, but she didn't get the chance to do so. Kagami pressed the pause button, grabbed Konata's controller and put both away. She turned her head to the left and stared right into Konata's eyes. All color had immediately left her face and she started fearing for her life again, for the nth time this weekend.

"Kona, I hope you're prepared."

"P-Prepared, huh? What if I say no?"

"Well, it would make… absolutely no difference whatsoever.

"Just as I thought…" She made an attempt to flee as she tried to jump from the bed with all her might but Kagami casually caught her mid-air, which made her only scarier in Konata's eyes. She wrapped her arms around the flying Konata and threw her back on the bed again. She landed face first on the bed and Kagami instantly made herself comfortable on her back. Konata was once more reduced to muffled sounds and Kagami looked at Konata but stopped for a moment.

"Hey Kona, I think I may acted a bit too fast here…"

"Hmm?" Konata turned her head away from the cushion in order to speak and see again. "Don't tell me you're forgiving me?" She couldn't believe it.

"No, that's not it… I'm just out of ideas right now… Sure, I could tickle you again until you die but that's a little bland…"

"Huh? You don't want to have a tip from me on how to punish me, right?"

"Why not? Let's give it a try."

"How about that… Shut up, Kagamin~."

"Okay,"

5 minutes of absolute silence passed and Konata was getting a bit irritated at various things.

"Aren't you getting a bit tired on top of me there?"

"Not really… I already thought so last time, but your back is surprisingly comfortable."

"Thanks?"

"By the way, getting back to earlier… Really, don't cut your hair." Kagami's gaze wandered to Konata's head again and she grabbed a couple strands of her hair and started playing with it a little.

"I-I wasn't planning on."

"Good." She answered and continued to play with Konata's hair like nothing was wrong. Konata let her do how she wanted, but she was still a bit confused.

"Hey Kagamin~, quick question… My punishment is you playing with my hair or what?"

"No, I gave up on the punishment somewhere along the way, but your hair feels kind of nice so…"

"I see… but you also could do that without sitting on top of me, right? So… could you...?"

"Oh… yeah… sure…" Kagami had totally forgotten about where she was sitting but quickly got off her.

"Thanks." Konata was finally free, got up and rested her back against the wall and Kagami did the same shortly after. The urge to play with Konata's was still as strong as ever, though. Kagami grabbed a couple strands again and let strand for strand glide through her hand while being completely captivated by it.

"Is my hair really that interesting, Kagamin~?" Konata had watched her playing with her hair for a good while and became curious about it.

"Kind of… yeah. Although… it's kind of hard to play with it in this position… Can you move a little?"

"Absolutely, princess Kagami-sama… How about a lap pillow… that would make it easy to play with!" Konata rolled her eyes while being as sarcastic as possible.

"Hmm… that could work, let's give it a try." She completely ignored the sarcasm and was actually okay with the idea.

"Eh?! K-Kagamin~… I was just joking… I…" She wasn't given the chance to finish her sentence. Kagami grabbed Konata's shoulders and with a little force, she placed Konata's head on her lap and readjusted herself a little afterward. After Konata had settled down on her lap or rather had given up, Kagami started stroking through the hair with her fingers.

"Your hair sure feels nice."

"T-Thanks…" Konata grabbed a bit of her hair Kagami wasn't playing with and used it to hide her face, she was quite embarrassed by the situation and didn't want Kagami to see. "A-Are you really fine with all this?" It was not like Konata wasn't okay with it, but her own embarrassment and the ultra dere Kagami took a big toll on her.

"Sure, why not?" She as totally fine with it. Konata became even more confused. She wasn't sure if Kagami was acting again, really became fine with the intimacy or in this case, was just too distracted by her hair to even notice anything. Konata had no choice but to play along with it. She made the best out of the situation and used it as a training in order to get her resistance up a little. Kagami's attention ever left Konata's hair and so the internal struggle of Konata more or less went right pass her. Kagami just grabbed three strands of her hair and started braiding some pigtails. She made great progress and was pretty satisfied with the finished work. She first did a couple short braids, but in the end, she settled down with a long braid on the left side of Konata's head, but as soon as she was finished, it was finally Kagami's turn to get a bit embarrassed again. She became hungry in the progress and her stomach made sure that Konata's knows about it by making a huge noise.

"Wow, I could not only hear it loud and clear… it could almost feel the grumbling…" Konata had the best place for recognizing Kagami's appetite.

"S-S-Shut up, i-idiot." She was so busy with Konata's hair before that it completely threw her off and she let out her standard retort Konata didn't hear for a long time.

"Yes!" She was really happy with the reaction she got and immediately jumped off from Kagami's lap and made a victory pose in the middle of her room. "How I missed that!"

"You want to die after all, huh? I can kill you, right?" Her eyes looked really scary and Konata instantly stopped her cheering in return.

"Off to the kitchen we go! Let's find something to eat!"

"Good choice." Her expression became a bit softer again and Konata sighed in relief.

They arrived in the kitchen and looked for something to eat. Konata took the easy way out and let Kagami made some fried noodles. Everyone won by it. Konata because she was lazy, Kagami could train a bit and the kitchen was happy because they only cooked rice once this weekend and it probably was the last time, too. After Kagami had been reminded of the existence of rice cookers, her fascination of cooking it on her own died completely. Her fried noodles were pretty good and the honest praise from Konata also made her quite happy in return.

The two went back to Konata's room and decided to play a little more of the game that got a little interrupted before. Konata decided to play fair the entire time because of… reasons and behaved well. Kagami put up a good fight again and the battles became really long, hard and exhausting. Their total matches were tied until the very last one and in the end, Konata took the victory just a second before Kagami could finish her final attack.

"Wow, what a battle… You became way too good, Kagamin~."

"Nope, still not good enough."

"Seriously, any more of it and I'm up to the mountains!"

"Shut up already." Kagami couldn't hear it anymore.

"Hehe." Konata was happy. "But still, I actually worked up a sweat while playing a game…"

"Yeah, me too…"

"Time for a bath. How about you go first, Kagamin~?"

"With pleasure." Kagami agreed to the proposal, took some clothes and left for the bath. Konata took the remote of the TV and switched to her favorite anime channel. It was just the right time to watch an episode while Kagami was gone.

She took 20 minutes in the bath and had just returned to the room and saw Konata staring at the TV screen.

"You're not seriously watching that hiking anime right now, are you?"

"But Kagamin~, it's a really good anime, why shouldn't I watch it?"

"Kona…" Kagami rolled her eyes and sighed at the same time. "Whatever looks like it's over anyway, go and take your bath."

"Roger." Konata saluted right before her, also took some clothes and disappeared.

"What a troublesome girl…" She said to herself and then grabbed a light novel out of her back to read it on the bed.

Konata's bath didn't take long and was already back to the room by now.

"I'm baaack~!"

"Welcome back… or rather, you just went to take a bath…"

"Hmm…"

"What's wrong?

"Nothing… I guess…" Konata tilted her head as she kept staring at Kagami, who was still focused on her light novel. Just like Kagami before, she became strangely interested in Kagami's hair all of a sudden. Her hair was still open because of the bath she took earlier and looked really pleasant to touch for some reason. Konata sat down behind Kagami on the bed and grabbed a couple of strands, only to let them flow through her hand in order to test how they feel. Kagami shuddered a little in response because it was unexpected, but she neither said anything nor stopped Konata. "I-I think I get it why you were so interested in my hair earlier now, Kagamin~. It really feels nice."

"I guess that was a compliment, right? Thanks."

"Absolutely." Konata said so and refocused her attention at the hair in front of her. She played around a little and tested a few different hairstyles but she wasn't really satisfied with the results until now but then she remembered something. "Kagamin~, I need a hair-band."

"Why?"

"Ponytail!"

"Eh? You want something to laugh or what?" The slight trauma of the first time she had a ponytail in front of Konata surfaced again. She wasn't thrilled for a redo.

"Of course not, Kagamin~. I also didn't laugh last time, did I?"

"Oh, yeah, you're right." She had forgotten about the time in Yokohama where Konata was the only one who didn't laugh. She reacted a bit strange but she didn't laugh. "Okay, whatever…" She rummaged a bit in her bag and passed Konata a hair-band.

"Thanks." Konata grabbed it and swiftly arranged Kagami's hair in a ponytail. "Hmm… hmm…" She moved a bit sideways from left to right multiple times in order to examine her creation. "Yep…" She looked pleased with her work and nodded in approval.

"What's with that 'yep'?"

"You're going to wear a ponytail for the rest of the day, Kagamin~."

"Just for a day, huh? What's up with the reasonable demand?" Kagami really wasn't used to Konata being reasonable.

"I wouldn't mind if you wear it for longer, but you're a tsundere… or at least supposed to be one… I'm not entirely sure lately… and so you need twintails.

"Shut up!"

"Twintails it is."

"Haa… Whatever, but why the sudden change? First, you couldn't stop laughing and now you like my ponytail?"

"I don't know what happened before, but looking at you now, ponytails kind of tur… Ah, nevermind that… forget that I ever said something." Konata stopped mid-sentence and tried to brush it off.

"Ohh? Now I'm curious…" Kagami put her light novel away and finally turned her attention to Konata as she turned her head around. "I'm all ears."

"All ears you say… All I have to say is that it looks good on you, nothing more."

"Is that so?" Kagami wasn't buying it. She stared right into Konata's eyes to build up pressure on her, but Konata did the same. It soon degraded into a simple staring contest. They looked into each other eyes for several minutes already and neither of them wanted to lose at this point. Two more minutes passed and both started getting slightly uncomfortable. Staring at each other for a longer period of time became quite embarrassing for both. However, both girls in question were pretty stubborn and letting the other one win at this point wasn't an option anymore. They had to play dirty in order to win. Konata was obviously the first when it comes to that. In order to get Kagami more embarrassed, she moved her face a little closer to hers, but it backfired, twice. Not only she herself became more embarrassed at the same time, Kagami immediately did the same and also came a bit closer. No one dared to back down and Konata once more came a bit closer, but Kagami also decreased the distance again. It was a dire situation. They repeated it two more times, but they soon ran into quite a big problem. Closing any more distance was not an option anymore. Due to the extreme closeness of their faces, their foreheads were almost touching each other, combined with the starring, both were beyond embarrassed already, which was clearly visible by the red faces of both of them.

"K-Kagamin~, w-what do we do now?"

"G-Good question, Kona… I wouldn't recommend any closer because…" She couldn't finish the sentence.

"Yeah… that's kind of… I mean the one who would do it, would probably win the game but it's a bit… well…"

"So..?" Kagami was out of options.

"Hmm…" Konata had another dirty trick ready, she feared the consequences a bit because of last time but she had to end the situation. She lifted her arm and poked Kagami's side again. She immediately flinched and, out of reflex, broke the eye contact with Konata. Thanks to the flinching, their faces came even closer for a split second and Konata had to back off to avoid actual contact. Kagami hadn't noticed it because of the surprised flinching, but their lips were only a hairs breath away from each other for a moment. Konata may have won the battle, but she had lost the war because she did notice it. Her heart was beating furiously and her face was burning in response and she quickly looked away. Kagami noticed her reaction and was a bit confused because she hadn't seen what almost just happened.

"N-N-Nothing! A-Absolutely nothing! No, wait, even less than nothing! So little happened that it's almost scary!" Konata started panicking and denied it way too hard. She had no idea why she was affected by something that only almost happened. Her heart just won't calm down no matter what.

"Sure…" Kagami didn't believe her, but for some reason, she decided not to press the issue any further because she looked pretty shaken.

"I-I need something to drink… Do you want something, too, Kagamin~?"

"Yeah, want me to come with you?"

"Nah, I'm good."

"Okay, anything's fine."

Konata quickly left the room. The drinks were just an excuse for it. She needed a breather to calm down after the almost incident. Even though it was just an excuse, she still went to the kitchen. Something to drink actually didn't sound so bad right now. Once she entered the kitchen, Konata leaned down against the fridge and sank down on her knees and took a couple deep breaths in order to calm down.

"W-What is going on with me?" She started questioning herself. "It's not like something happened. It's not like out lips actually touched or anything… they definitely didn't so it's safe…" She started trailing off a little and started a second fight with herself. _'Oi, brain! What's up with the disappointment I'm feeling here?!'_ The second fight was fought in her mind. "I mean, even if they touched, what they didn't, what's the problem? It's just Kagamin~… A kiss wouldn't mean anything, right? Really, what am I getting all worked up for? Nothing noteworthy happened! Nothing at all…" She trailed off again. _'Shut up, brain.'_ Konata even went tsundere on herself. "It's not the time to get worked up now! Kagami's already in the lead right now and now that I can't go to the mountains in order to train… What's up with her in the first place? She's way too scary lately… Whatever, time to get back." Konata slapped her cheeks a few times and got back on her feet. She then took a bottle of tea out of the fridge and gulped it down in one go. It helped her calm down by a great margin. After she felt confident again, she took another two bottles and went back to her room. Her refreshed fighting spirits should help her with handling Kagami now, or so she thought.

"Hey Kagamin~, I'm ba-." She immediately stopped in her tracks when she saw Kagami."

"Hmm? What's wrong?" In the time Konata was gone, Kagami had relocated herself a little on the bed. She was lying down sideways on it, with her back on the mattress. Kagami's head didn't fit on the bed in the position and so it was hanging down on the side. Her hair, which was still styled in a ponytail by Konata, touched the floor with most of its volume. When Konata entered, Kagami lifted her head a little and looked with upturned eyes at her. Konata's freshly regained confidence was nowhere to be seen again and she blankly stared for some time at Kagami. Her mouth sometimes opened as if wanting to say something, but no words came out. It looked like she was battling herself in her mind again and she was losing. After the internal struggle seemed over, Konata raised her free hand and slapped her cheek a couple more times and took another deep breath. She gave Kagami a bottle of tea, earned a confused sound thanks and grabbed a manga from her shelf, sat down at the corner of the bed and started reading it.

"Absolutely nothing is wrong, Kagamin~." Konata finally gave an answer to Kagami's question, even though it was a bit late.

"Okay?" She had definitely realized Konata's strange behavior but had no idea what was going on.

The next minutes were spent in silence, Konata focused on her manga and Kagami used the time to finish her light novel. Even though Konata was the reason for the silence, she also was the first one who had enough of it.

"I'm bored!" Her being bored took a bigger toll on her than everything else and so it was time to do something against it, no matter the result.

"Oh, feeling better again? That's good."

"Well… let's say yes…" She wasn't even sure herself.

"Whatever, anything particular to relieve you from your boredom?"

"Hmm… nope, no idea at all."

"Looks like you're really better… What could we do… that's a good question…"

"Kagamin~, if you're going to say 'studying' now, I sadly have to kill you."

"Studying, huh? That's a good idea, Kona. I hadn't thought of that at all." Playing with Konata became quite the hobby of hers.

"Gah, Kagamin~, I really hate you sometimes."

"You're welcome."

"Shut up."

"Tsundere Kona, huh? Interesting…"

"I'm not a tsu- OI!" She almost fell for her own trap.

"Hehe… well, I think I had enough fun for now. How about our usual evening movie?"

"Do you really expect me to ignore your previous statement?"

"Yep."

"Movie sounds good." Konata took the easy way out because she didn't want to lose another battle today.

"Then let's have a look what we find."

The two made themselves comfortable on the bed and started watching a movie. Although both were on the bed, as usual, Konata took some distance from her because she still was far away from a complete recovery. Kagami was still confused, but she wasn't worried enough to ask her again and concentrated on the movie instead. The evening slowly progressed into night and the movie was nearing its end, but something had ended before. It was Konata's consciousness. The complete day had mentally tired her out so much that she had just fallen asleep at some point. Kagami noticed her a little later lying behind her and decided to end the movie early in order to let her sleep. She moved Konata a little away, to get some room for her own, and also tried to sleep, but she had problems with it because she kept staring at Konata besides her.

"Seriously, what was up with her today? It feels like something happened that I missed… But what? To shake her up this much…" Kagami was really curious in the end, but also a bit concerned about her. "Was it my fault? Did I do something? Sure, my teasing leveled up, but I don't remember doing something to cause this…" She was trying really hard but there was nothing she could think of.

"…Stupid staring contest…" Konata's sleep talking acted up again.

"Eh? The staring contest? Did something happen there? I mean besides the fact that she cheated again… Wait a moment… when she poked me and I flinched in response… I remember my face getting dangerously close to Konata's and… NO! N-No way… No, nope, never, NO!" She got an idea what could've happened and started panicking while her whole face was getting red. To make it worse, thanks to her freaking out, Konata started moving in her sleep and another accident almost happened.

"W-Woah!" She quickly backed off and barely avoided Konata's faces while almost falling out of the bed with a furiously beating heart. "T-That was close…" She took a deep breath to calm down. "W-We almost… Is that what happened at the staring contest? O-Okay, I can understand now why Konata was behaving oddly… That was scary just now… WAIT! D-Did we touch or did we not?! Ehm… we didn't, right? Right?!" Kagami started the same battle against herself that Konata fought before. "N-No, they did not! They definitely didn't! I would remember that… I would totally remember something like that… right?" She also started trailing a bit off. "Okay, Kona's mystery is solved." She decided that 100% nothing happened. "But why did it affect her so much? Sure, it's super embarrassing and I would do exactly the same… well, I kind of did just now but Kona should be better than that… Or did I break her so much the last days? Sorry about that, Kona…" She swiftly apologized to the sleeping girl next to her. "But still… why are we this affected by it? I mean two girls doing something like that… not that I ever tried it before or was going to try, but… it shouldn't throw us, especially her, that much off guard… weird… Well, whatever… I'm finally getting a bit sleepy." Kagami yawned a little and watched Konata some more. Thanks to the moonlight illuminating the room, she had a good view of her. "She actually is kind of cute, isn't she? There really is no way to deny it in the end…" Kagami at night is bolder after all. "Hmm…" Something bothered her. It seemed like looking wasn't enough and she had an idea to completely stop her restlessness and fall asleep. "It couldn't hurt, right?" She reassured herself and got a bit closer to Konata in order to hug her as usual in the night, though she made sure not to come in contact with her face and so she pressed her head against Kagami's chest. That probably wasn't that good of an idea, rationally thinking, but she hadn't thought about hugging her from behind. "Just as I thought, she really helps me calm down…" She let out a big yawn directly after hugging her and she instantly got extremely sleepy. "Looks like the is really what happens when I fall asleep… hugging her in order to calm down… Hmm, uh, I don't care anymore… Good night, Kona." She whispered the last words to her and quickly fell asleep on her own.

….

The next morning, Konata felt something soft pressing against her face and thanks to that, she woke up first again. She opened her eyes and saw… nothing because she was way too close to Kagami and so her view was completely blocked. After some wriggling, she managed to gain some distance and immediately shrieked at where she had slept and what she just did.

"WAH-! I-I'm sorry, Kagamin~, I wasn't doing…" Konata was way too conscious of everything right now.

"Hmm? Did something happen, Kona?" Kagami was just waking up.

"O-Oh, n-no… nothing, but can you please release me… I'm kind of…" Konata almost begged and Kagami quickly released her after seeing how she was hugging her.

"I-I'm sorry…"

"It's fine…" The room turned silent again and both competed over which face can become redder. The atmosphere was really weird again and both felt super awkward.

"A-Anyway… we should get ready for school…"

"G-Good idea." Konata agreed and looked at the clock. "Maybe we should also hurry a bit because we're running late."

"Wah-?!" Kagami bolted up and both got ready for school in order to more or less get on time there. Konata didn't care that much about and lagged a bit behind. Her mind was still focused on how she woke up today and many other things. Kagami couldn't take her being this slowly anymore at the door and wanted to drag her out of the house. She wanted to grab Konata's hand, but as soon as their fingertips touched, she immediately her arm and looked away in embarrassment. Konata reacted similarly. The little touch they shared, seemed to shoot lightning bolts through their bodies, something that never happened before and scared both.

"L-Let's get going…"

"S-Sure…"

The two finally left Konata's house and made their way to school. Neither of them said a single word to each other and just kept looking at their hands because a tingly feeling was still present.

 _'Something's wrong here… Really, really wrong….'_

Both were thinking exactly the same and looked very troubled. It's probably going to be a long day for Konata and Kagami.

* * *

.

Yes, I just ended an almost 18k (10k + 8k) words chapter with a cliffhanger and no, I'm not sorry about that. Feel free to hate me.

I think I may overdid a little in this chapter but I sure had fun. The jump from the last chapter may be a bit big, though, but it's finally time to get some progression here.

Kagami v2 = best Kagami. The complete chapter is easily my favorite one.

I tried my best to proofread (not that you could actually call it that...) the chapter with some kind of grammar tools but I have the feeling I missed a ton because it's so long and I got a little blind... If you find some game-breaking mistakes, feel free to send me a message. (First chapter I actually care a bit about it…)

By the way, the end of the chapter is on the same day as chapter 1, so we made a complete round.

Next chapter: Start of the mountain training arc! Just kidding… but I actually kind of like it now that I think about… Maybe I'll make a camping chapter sometime… Anyway, next time… Well, a bit of drama and other stuff… The chapter is about a third done and quite a mess right now...lot's of mono- and dialogues right now… But! I have a lot of free time the next two weeks and should get it ready there.

P.S. The story just broke the 100k words wall.


	18. Realization

The long weekend was over and a normal week was about to start. That was at least the plan a couple days ago, but the weekend, that was supposed to be spent studying for a test, changed this idea. Konata and Kagami got way too close to each other, by normal measuring and an awkward tension starting hanging over them. They started realizing something, but they had yet to find out what exactly it is and more importantly, what it means. The two had reached the school after a really awkward ride where neither talked or even looked at each other. In school, both directly went to their respective classes. Miyuki and Tsukasa had met them somewhere along the way, but got completely ignored, no the two hadn't even realized that they were there. The first half of school passed insanely fast and it was time for lunch break. Even though Kagami was totally out of it, she still had absent-mindedly decided to spend the break in the classroom of Konata and the others like usual. Even so, as soon as she sat down at the table of the group, Kagami's head immediately hit said table and she continued to be lost in thoughts. Konata was already in the same state before Kagami even arrived in the classroom. Tsukasa and Miyuki were extremely confused by the behavior of the two, but had no idea what happened on the weekend and started chatting on their own.

Kagami was having a recap of the weekend and everything else regarding Konata in her head in the meanwhile.

 _'_ _What is going on with me? The whole weekend was kind of weird… and then today when we left the house… I grabbed her hand to finally get going, but as soon as our fingertips touched, I felt all weird and tingly… I can even still feel it a bit not… But that's just the tip of the iceberg. I think it all started with the flower viewing… Ever since then, I spent so much time with Kona. I even kind of lived at her house for two weeks and… spent almost every day afterward… to the point I even got my own key… Except for a few exceptions, we also always shared the bed when I slept over at her place… No, not just there… Even occasionally at my place and in the hotel when we were in Yokohama… Kona and I shared it after I didn't let Tsukasa sleep with Kona? Why did I do that in the first place? It's not like I didn't want Tsukasa to share a bed with her… It's… It's not, right? R-Right?'_

Kagami started doubting herself while she was desperately trying to find out what's going on with her. _'I absolutely wasn't jealous or anything… I definitely wasn't… No, I was… right? Yeah… it's true… I was jealous because I… I should be the only one who's allowed to… WHY?!'_

Her confusedness was increasing rather than decreasing. _'There's also the cooking… Even though Kona didn't want to help me in the beginning, she never gave up on me until the very end. Kona was the only person who could teach me… Even my own family gave up on me, but she… Kona no, she didn't… Then there's the thing with her past… Speaking of which, I still need the contact info of the girls to give them a piece of my mind. After that, a lot changed… Kona still was as clingy as always but I also started enjoying the contact more and more… I let her hug me whenever she wanted without saying anything and even started hugging her on my own… Not only hugging, the overall contact increased a lot and lastly the weekend that had just ended… We were basically all over each other to the point we needed to take a break from each other on Sunday but went immediately back on Monday again. We just couldn't let go of each other. My teasing ability also improved greatly. I'm even able to drive Kona into a corner and her reactions are so adorable… she's so cute… yes, she's cute…'_

She started noticing a pattern in her thoughts. _'But it, especially yesterday, was a bit much… I kind of got nervous whenever I just looked at her… and then there was the staring contest… I hadn't noticed, but it looks like we almost had an accident and the same happened when she suddenly moved while being asleep… We… We… almost kissed… twice… I was sooo nervous when it happened. It was so embarrassing, but at the same time… there also was some sort of disappointment almost as if I wouldn't have minded if it did happen… N-No, I almost wanted it to happen… T-That's just wrong… Why would I want that? She's my best friend after all and even more, she's a girl! Just what the heck is wrong with me?! But then we're back to this morning and the hand holding… This weird tingly feeling… This warm and fuzzy feeling… What is that? I-I really can think of one thing now… but… but that can't be, it's simply not possible… not with Kona! That's… That's… No… I… I… it's really… there's no denying, isn't it? It's love… I-I fell in love… I love Kona… oh… that's bad, isn't it? Oh no…'_

The truth got revealed and hit Kagami like a truck. She wasn't able to process it at all and slowly but surely started panicking and all color had left her face.

"No! That can't be true!" Kagami yelled after she broke free of her thoughts. Tsukasa and Miyuki watched her for some time already and got startled by the sudden outburst, but they had no time to ask questions because she immediately left the classroom in a hurry afterward. Kagami ran down the floor and disappeared into an empty corridor. Once she was alone, Kagami sank down and started hugging her knees in shock. "No…"

Tsukasa and Miyuki hadn't seen anything of it and focused their attention on Konata, who was still in front of them, but she was experiencing something similar at the same time.

 _'_ _What's wrong with me? Did I eat something I shouldn't have? No… that would be too easy… It's definitely something related to Kagamin~. Yes, it's all her fault. What's wrong with HER? She was always so easy to tease and now… I think she's even better than me now! How could that happen? I was too careless! I guess I had just too much fun with her that I hadn't noticed that she secretly had her own training in the mountains to surpass me. She even forbade me to go to the mountains on my own… She sure is sly… Wait… when did she even had to go to the mountains in the first place? She was always at my place… Is there a mountain on the way? No… I don't think so… weird… Anyway, let's save that for later… but I better still go and take a look at Kagamin's~ way later…'_

Even in her mind, Konata gets distracted easily. _'Back to the main problem, brain… Just what happened on the weekend? It started like usual, we played our game and had a good time, but Saturday… First, Kagamin's onto me when I woke up… Okay, that's nothing new but… something was odd… it was so much more intimate than ever… Then the cooking lesson. I was prepared for the worst but she actually managed to cook her rice and man, was she happy. She jumped around and hugged me and thanked me so often and genuinely. A happy Kagamin~ sure is cute… No, downright adorable… But the call of her mother scared me quite a bit. She was just joking about the marriage thing, right? Right?! I mean…'_

Konata started feeling troubled.' _Then I finally told her about the rice cooker… I really can't say she took it well… her revenge, though… wow, what was that? She became a different person… that wasn't teasing anymore… it was basically something out of a dating game she pulled on me there… I was completely driven into a corner and my heart couldn't calm down at all. The whole day was extreme and it got super awkward after I also managed to get a thing or two to tease her… Sunday was even worse. It became so awkward that I couldn't even look at her and in the end, we spent the full day studying… Awful! Monday ways thankfully everything back to normal. I finally calmed down and Kagamin~ also acted as usual again. Sure, she was clingier than ever, but that was kind of normal already… Everything was fine until the staring contest we started out of nowhere… One thing led to another and she almost accidentally… kissed me… I thought I would die… My heart easily skipped two or three beats there, only to beat faster than ever afterward. I was totally out of it since that happened. That's not the only embarrassing thing… Kagami was playing with my hair for hours, not to mention the lap pillow. Not that I was any better… I also started playing with hers and I made a ponytail again… It looked so good on her… I almost got a bit excited there… Kagami made me… no… that's not good… But it would explain a lot, especially the tingly feeling I have ever since Kagami touched my hand or when I think about the staring contest… Could it be…? No, this has to be something different, right? It's… no, what else could it be… No… No… No… I can't think of anything else… I got trapped on the Kagamin~ route… She got me… I… Kagamin~… love… I do… love her… I love Kagamin~!'_ She wasn't even able to form a complete sentence in her head anymore until she came to the final conclusion and it shocked her greatly.

"Oh! That's bad… that's really bad!" The revelation made her scream just like Kagami before and Konata instantly fled out of the classroom. The already startled Miyuki and Tsukasa got only more confused now that both escaped out of the classroom. Konata thankfully ran into another direction and found her own corner. "Why…" Konata couldn't understand it at all.

Both had no time to calm down or process it, though, because the break was almost over and both had to return to their classes. They got back a little late, but neither were able to participate in class at all. Miyuki and Tsukasa wanted to ask Konata what happened, but after seeing her face, they didn't dare to ask her anything.

….

Almost the whole week passed and things didn't look good. Neither Konata nor Kagami had recovered from the sudden realization. They haven't spoken a word to each other because even looking at the other person was impossible and Kagami also stayed in her own class during the lunch breaks. The only good thing that happened was that Kuroi-sensei got so drunk over the weekend that she had totally forgotten about the test she wanted to do. Even though both learned enough for it over the weekend, there was no way they would be able to pass it in their current condition. Miyuki and Tsukasa were really worried about the two, but because both refused to talk, helping wasn't possible at the moment.

…..

The weekend started and on Saturday, Tsukasa couldn't take it anymore because seeing her sister like she was right now, was too painful for her to watch. She had to find out what's going on with Kagami and decided to confront her. Tsukasa stood in front of her door and knocked a few times already but there was no answer.

"Onee-chan? Can I come in?"

"… No…" It took some time, but Kagami finally answered. Tsukasa didn't listen to her answer, though, and she slowly stepped inside the room while closing the door behind her again.

"Onee-chan?" She couldn't see her because Kagami was hiding herself under her blanket on the bed.

"I-I said no… I want to be alone… Go away!"

"No!" Tsukasa had enough of her and came closer to the bed and removed the blanket. "O-Onee-chan…" She was a bit shocked. Kagami had managed to pull herself at least a little together over the schooldays, but right now, she looked like she hadn't slept at all last night.

"Let me alone already!"

"I'm not leaving this room before I know what's going on." Tsukasa sat down in front of Kagami on the bed and intensely stared at her.

"T-There's nothing to tell…"

"Onee-chan…" She sighed as she took her hand to lift up Kagamis chin and looked directly into her eyes. "Look me in the eyes and say there's nothing wrong and I'll leave."

"I… I…" Kagami couldn't say it and started breaking down completely. Tears started falling down her cheeks and she fell over into Tsukasa's arms and embraced her deeply. "It's… It's all over… I… something bad happened and…" She finally started talking and it was like a breaking dam as she continued to cry on her shoulder. Tsukasa was really startled by the sudden breakdown, but returned the hug while gently patting Kagamis back

"Everything is okay, just let it out, onee-chan."

"Nothing is okay! Absolutely nothing…" The sobbing only got stronger and she showed no sign of calming down.

Kagami continued to cry on her shoulder and Tsukasa patiently waited for her to calm in order to talk about what happened.

…

Konata was handling the situation in her own way. The problems she and Kagami had after realizing their feelings were a bit different. Kagami had problems accepting it and broke down because of it, but Konatas problem was that she didn't want to believe it and fled from reality as a reaction to it. Ever since the day it happened, she immediately went home after school and played her online game until morning and slept at school again. This cycle continued all the way to the weekend. It was Saturday evening and she hadn't slept since Friday morning in school. She looked extremely tired and exhausted but she just couldn't sleep at home in her own bed because it made her remember Kagami and that was something she couldn't handle right now. Her ingame progress was astonishing, though, but her guild members started to become worried. At least most of them, some readily welcomed her to the dark side, but those were a lost cause anyway. Their worry was futile because Konata never replied to any chat request. She even went to the extent to hide her chat window altogether. Konata just wanted to be alone and completely focus on the game, nothing else but there was one person who didn't give up in her guild, her online friend and real live teacher Kuroi-sensei. She already wanted to confront her in school, but she was hoping Konata could sort out, whatever she's going through, on her own. Looking back, she realized that it was a mistake to ignore it because it only got worse. She wanted to talk with Konata now, but it was easier said than done because contacting her ingame was next to impossible. Chat was ignored and messages through ingame mail also stayed unanswered. Looking at her friendlist gave Kuroi-sensei a new idea. She saw the area Konata was playing in at the moment and went to search for her. It took her a whole hour, but Kuroi-sensei finally found the character of Konata and soon started spamming chat bubbles right in front of her because they couldn't be ignored.

 **Nanakon** : Izumi

 **Nanakon** : Izumi

 **Nanakon** : Izumi

 **Nanakon** : Izumi

 **Nanakon** : Izumi

 **Nanakon** : Izumi

 **Nanakon** : Izumi!

 **Nanakon** : Izumi!

 **Nanakon** : OI!

Kuroi-sensei continued like that for quite some time. She didn't saw it, but Konata was becoming really angry and decided to finally respond.

 **Konakona** : Sensei, you're really annoying. Stop it or else I'll delete you from my friendlist, block you and report you for harassing another player to a GM.

She finally got a response from Konata, but she wasn't expecting it being like that.

 **Nanakon** : Oi! If you do that, guess who'll fail her next finals.

 **Konakona** : …

 **Nanakon** : Joking aside, what's wrong with you?

 **Konakona** : Nothing.

 **Nanakon** : Sure… How about stop lying?

 **Konakona** : I'm not.

 **Nanakon** : Is it too embarrassing or what? It's not like you fell in love with your best friend or something like that, right?

Bullseye. Kuroi-sensei got no answer and was about to write something again.

 **-Konakona- has logged off.**

A system message appeared on her screen and she went pale.

"Oh… that was… great…" She talked to the screen and face palmed herself.

….

Kagami had considerably calmed down by now, at least to the point she stopped crying for a solid ten minutes. She let go of Tsukasa and went back to hugging her own knees while sitting on her bed.

"Hey onee-chan, can you please tell me what happened? I'm really worried about you…"

"No… I-I can't…"

"Why not? Even though I always come with everything to you… but you… is it because you think you can't trust me?" Tsukasa felt bad at the mere thought and started looking sad, making Kagami feel even worse than she already did.

"T-Tsukasa… that's not it. It's just that…"

"Just what? What is it?" Tsukasa was originally there to comfort Kagami, but her stubbornness was taking a toll on her.

"It's just that something happened and I'm really scared of various things. I just don't know what to do anymore…" Kagami finally started to open up a little.

"Onee-chan…" She got worried again because it sounded quite serious. "But that's exactly why I'm here. Let me help you. I'm sure we can figure it out together."

"B-But… I don't want to lose you, too… Once I'll tell you, there's no way you'll ever see me in the same light again… You might even start to hate me…" Kagami was really frightened.

"What?!" Tsukasa thought she didn't hear right as she blinked a few times and stared blankly at her. "There's nothing in this world that could ever make me hate you, onee-chan!"

"Are you really sure about that?"

"Yes, absolutely! I can't possibly ever hate my onee-chan because I love her way too much." Tsukasa's absolute honesty, proven by her serious looking face, gave Kagami finally enough secureness to tell her.

"Please don't make me regret it…" She gave Tsukasa a final warning but she strongly denied the chance. "Okay… It has something to do with Kona…"

"Yes, I already figured it out that it has something to do with Kona-chan… Huh, 'Kona'?" Kagami ignored her remark, took one last deep breath and said it in one go.

"I fell in love with Kona." She finally said the words she wanted to hide so desperately and felt really anxious for Tsukasa's reaction, but her sister didn't say anything. Kagami started feeling bad, but her sister continued to stay silent and just stared at her.

"P-Please say something, Tsukasa…"

"Huh?" She looked surprised for some reason. "You're already done?"

"Y-Yes?" Kagami wasn't sure what to answer.

"So you love Kona-chan… and now?"

"I mean in a r-romantic way." She made it clearer in order for Tsukasa to understand.

"Okay… Onee-chan, I'm still waiting for the part where I'm supposed to start hating you…"

"It's what I just said about Kona… I'm a girl who likes a girl… that's… not how it's supposed to be… it's… it's not… right…" She was hesitating with her own explanation and it became more of a question in the end.

"Onee-chan…" Tsukasa softly said, took Kagamis hand and gently squeezed it a little. "What's wrong with that? Okay, I admit that it's not exactly normal, no let me rephrase it, not exactly common is a better word, but so what? There's nothing wrong with liking the person you like, no matter who it is. You're supposed to love the person you fell for and not anyone else! Kona-chan is a good person and that's all that's important. No one has the right to question your choice because they don't agree with it for whatever stupid reason it might be. If someone ever tells you something different, come directly to me and tell me who it was. They'll never say anything against it again once I'm done with them, trust me with that!" Tsukasa ended her impressive speech and even got a bit scary in the end for Kagamis sake. Her sister was just staring at her with an open mouth. She couldn't believe what she just heard. Kagami wasn't expecting her sister to be so open minded and even more, so mature. Tears started to form in Kagami's eyes again and she once more hugged her little sister.

"Thank you." She whispered into Tsukasa's ear. "Thank you for being my sister and for accepting me… I love you." The word 'grateful' couldn't even begin to describe the feeling Kagami had right now. She tightened the hug and her anxiously died down.

"You're welcome, onee-chan." Tsukasa readily returned the hug and both stayed like that for some time until Tsukasa spoke up again. "But please, don't ever scare me like that again!"

"Trust me, I won't, but you can understand me a little, right?" Once the weight was lifted from her shoulders, Kagami started to get a little livelier again.

"Yes, I guess I can… Realizing their first love probably isn't that easy, especially in your case with another girl… Not that I have any experience with it, though…" Tsukasa couldn't really relate to it but it was easy to understand.

"Thanks."

"So… onee-chan, what now?" She raised a very interesting question.

"Huh, what do you mean?" A question Kagami didn't understand.

"Well… I mean…" Tsukasa was having a hard time. "Are you okay with how things are right now or do you want to be together with Kona-chan?"

"T-Together with Kona…" Her face had burned up just by the mere thought of it. She was incredibly embarrassed, but it wasn't a bad feeling. If anything, it was the very opposite. It was a very pleasant feeling and she started smiling, but not for long. "I would like that… really… but I don't think that's going to happen…" A sad expression soon replaced the smile.

"But you love Kona-chan, right?" Tsukasa didn't understand the problem.

"Y-Yes, I do… The problem here is that you need two for it…"

"And?"

"It's just me… there's no way Kona feels the same…"

"Hmm? I'm pretty sure Kona-chan likes you as much as you do, if not even more."

"R-Really?" Kagamis eyes started shining for a second. "N-No, you can't be sure with that… It's too dangerous…"

"But you also can't stay like that, can you, onee-chan?"

"Probably not…" Kagami knew it was no use. It was not even a week since she found out and she already had enough. "Then tell me, what should I do, sis?"

"Well… I'm not sure… Maybe we should ask Yuki-chan, she knows everything after all." Tsukasa thought she had a good idea but Kagami thought otherwise. Her eyes grew wide in shock and she got really nervous.

"N-NO! You can't!" She started yelling. "You absolutely can't tell anyone about it! Not Miyuki and especially not Kona!"

"Okay, then I won't tell Yuki-chan." Tsukasa understood a little why Kagami didn't want anyone to know and quickly discarded her idea again. Somewhere, someone felt really sad for some reason at this very moment. "That means we have to find out how she feels on our own, huh?" She started thinking about a new idea.

"It's fine, you already did more than enough. I can find something out on my own."

"Eh?! No way, I can finally be useful for onee-chan, there's no way I'll stop now!" Kagami just wanted to hug her again.

"Thank you… You really are the best little sister anyone could have."

"Ehehe…" Tsukasa got really from the big praise and soon rewarded Kagami with an idea. "Ah!"

"What is it?"

"Kona-chan's birthday is on the next weekend." Important information suddenly got revealed.

"Oh! I almost forgot about that…"

"That's no good, onee-chan. The soon to be girlfriend has to remember something like that!" Leave it to Tsukasa when it comes to thinking overly positive.

"G-Girl…" Kagami quickly stopped herself with slapping her own cheeks. "I-It's not the time for that now…"

"You should do something together with her on that day, just the two of you. Yuki-chan and I can wait until later for a little party. I'll keep her busy until then."

"That's a good idea. I'll think of something until then."

"It's great seeing you better again, onee-chan."

"It's all thanks to you."

"Ehehe…" Tsukasa really likes to be praised.

"On a completely unrelated note, do you have any idea what homework we have to do for next week?" Kagami felt like they talked enough about Konata and wanted to change to topic. "I wasn't really present last week, mentally speaking, and have no idea."

"EHHH?!" Ironically, today, Tsukasa was the most shocked right now. "Wow… I… ehm no, I don't really know, but I'll ask Yuki-chan later and tell you then."

"You know, I have a semi-good excuse, but you… Whatever, please do ask her." Kagami really didn't feel like scolding her today.

"Okay." She stood up and was about to leave the room, but got stopped at the door.

"Tsukasa?" She turned around and looked at Kagami again. "Really, thank you for everything today."

"You're very welcome, onee-chan and please don't hesitate and suffer on your own the next time you're having problems with something, okay?"

"Yes, I will." The scolding worked and she promised her little sister to rely on her more.

Tsukasa finally left the room, but immediately ran into someone else.

"Oh, hey mom."

"Hey Tsukasa, huh, you were in Kagamis room? She let you in?"

"Almost… I forced myself in because I couldn't take it anymore."

"Oh… good girl." Miki wasn't expecting her to be that aggressive. "So, what's wrong with her?" She obviously was very interested.

"Nothing's wrong with her. She just had a little crisis, but it's better already and will soon be completely solved."

"Oh, what's that about?"

"That's a secret." Tsukasa looked really proud and Miki was a little disappointed.

"Well… as long as she's better all's well… Even though I really want to know… Anyway, good job in being there for her, Tsukasa."

"Ehehe…" Tsukasa got a lot of praise today and happily skipped into her room.

"Oh my…" Miki said to herself and went downstairs.

…..

Konata was already staring for about 30 minutes at her empty PC monitor. The only sound that could be heard the entire time was the faint ticking of her clock in the background. The shock caused by Kuroi-sensei ran deep. The issue she tried to ignore so hard even started haunting her online. She was thinking about her options right now, but there was more or less nothing left.

"Might as well get back to the game and confront sensei… I really don't want to, but then she'll come at me in school and that would be the end of me… I just have to lie a little to satisfy sensei's curiosity and… Sure… that'll work…" She had absolutely no confidence in herself right now. "Haa…" She really took a liking to her desktop wallpaper the last five minutes she stared at it, but Konata finally decided to restart her game. She logged back in and her character appeared at the same time as before and sure enough, Kuroi-sensei was still waiting there.

"Sensei… just how much free time do you have…"

Kuroi-sensei saw Konatas character reappearing and quickly gave the command for her character to kneel in front of her. Konatas chat window also turned lively.

 **Nanakon** : I'm soooo sorry, Izumi. I really wasn't planning on it.

 **Konakona** : What are you talking about, sensei? My internet connection just had some problems.

 **Nanakon** : You know perfectly well that the message we get if someone loses connection is a different one.

 **Konakona** : Right…

 **Nanakon** : So, what happened?

 **Konakona** : Nothing.

 **Nanakon** : Nothing, huh? You want me to come personally at you in school, after all, I see.

 **Konakona** : No, I really don't want that.

 **Nanakon** : It's not like I'm going to tell anyone. I'm just really worried. Leaving my role as a teacher aside for now because you also were completely out of it in school. As a fellow guild member

 **Nanakon** : Stupid chat limit… -.-

 **Nanakon** : …and ingame friend, I can't overlook your recent playing habits at all because they're no good.

"Like sensei is one to talk." Good thing she can't hear Konata.

 **Konakona** : I'm not entirely sure what's going on myself. Something bad happened and I'm trying my best to ignore it right now.

 **Nanakon** : Sorry to tell you, you're falling quite hard at it.

 **Konakona** : You don't say…

 **Nanakon** : Oh, so you do know?

 **Konakona** : Shut up, sensei.

 **Nanakon** : Are you a tsundere now or what?

 **Konakona** : -.-

 **Nanakon** : So what's the bad thing, that happened?

 **Konakona** : Well, I spent basically my entire time with one person lately and became really close with them. Too close to be exact and I realized some feelings I shouldn't have…

 **Nanakon** : What's wrong about falling in love with someone you enjoy being with?

 **Konakona** : Well… theoretically, there isn't anything wrong…

 **Nanakon** : By the way, who's the guy? I'm kind of curious.

 **Konakona** : …

 **Nanakon** : But now that I think about it… I didn't know you were this close to a guy. Is he from our school?

 **Konakona** : …

 **Nanakon** : Another school? You know guys from outside, huh?

 **Konakona** : Sensei, I'm not particularly close to any of the guys I know.

 **Nanakon** : Eh?

 **Konakona** : …

 **Nanakon** : Huh?

 **Nanakon** : Wait…

 **Nanakon** : Ehh…

 **Nanakon** : But…

 **Nanakon** : What?

 **Nanakon** : Didn't you…

 **Nanakon** : EHHH?

 **Konakona** : Starting to understand my problem?

 **Nanakon** : …

 **Konakona** : So… enough? Can we change the topic now?

 **Nanakon** : Not so fast here!

 **Konakona** : Great…

 **Nanakon** : You're into girls?!

 **Konakona** : I'm into someone who happens to be a girl, so, yes, I would say so.

 **Nanakon** : I see. Can't say I was expecting that…

 **Konakona** : Can't say I was either…

 **Nanakon** : And now you're having a hard time accepting that you're into girls?

 **Konakona** : No, accepting isn't the right word. Well, I was never really sure what I'm into and so I'm not that surprised. Sure, I wasn't expecting that, but I don't think that's how it works…

 **Nanakon** : Yeah, love never works that way.

 **Konakona** : Huh? You have experience, sensei?

 **Nanakon** : Well, college was… something else. Don't try to change the subject here! Right now, it's about and not me.

 **Konakona** : Eh?

 **Nanakon** : So, if it's not 'accepting' that you're having problems with, what else is it?

 **Konakona** : Yeah… liking a girl is one thing, but liking her is… I can't do that.

 **Nanakon** : Why?

 **Konakona** : She's way too important for me.

 **Nanakon** : Isn't that an argument for the 'pro' list`?

 **Konakona** : No, because losing her is not an option and so, unless I'm 100% sure to succeed, there's no way I'm going to try anything. Because of that, I decided to ignore my feeling for her.

 **Nanakon** : Sorry to burst your bubble, but that's not going to work.

 **Konakona** : Sensei, isn't a teacher supposed to teach something one doesn't already know?

 **Nanakon** : Eh, what do you want from me then?

 **Konakona** : Huh? The only thing I ever wanted was to be left alone.

 **Nanakon** : Right… fair enough. Not going to happen, though.

 **Konakona** : What then? You're going to help me or what?

 **Nanakon** : Well, after forcing you into talking with me, I might as well give you a little push.

 **Konakona** : Is it okay to be scared?

 **Nanakon** : Oi! Well… you should always be scared, but that's not the point right now.

 **Konakona** : Sensei, I really can't let that slide.

 **Nanakon** : Anyway, first, you need to normal again. Your current self is totally useless. Spent time with her again and get rid of any remaining awkwardness.

 **Konakona** : Hmm… I might need to spend a couple days in the mountains first in order to do that.

 **Nanakon** : Huh?

 **Konakona** : Inside joke, don't mind, but yeah, I probably need a few days to be ready for it again.

 **Nanakon** : As long as you do it in the end.

 **Konakona** : But what can I do in order to find whether I have a chance or not.

 **Nanakon** : Just kiss her. The reaction will tell you a lot.

 **Konakona** : …

 **Nanakon** : Eh?! o.O

 **Konakona** : That's definitely NOT an option!

 **Nanakon** : Wait… did I step on yet another landmine?

 **Konakona** : Something -almost- happened but my heart almost didn't survive it, so, not an option.

 **Nanakon** : Ah, the fragile heart of a young maiden. Wasn't expecting that…

 **Konakona** : …

 **Nanakon** : Just kidding. How about that, 'Truth or Dare'? The party game, you know?

 **Konakona** : Yeah, I know it, but how's that supposed to help? Isn't it only for people to make others do humiliating stuff or make them say embarrassing stuff?

 **Nanakon** : Or… Or you get some useful information out of her. Like if she has someone she likes or what she thinks about liking girls in a roundabout way.

 **Konakona** : Wow! Sensei, are you actually a genius?

 **Nanakon** : Next week, every time I have a question to answer in class, you're the first one I'm going to ask any single time.

 **Konakona** : NNNNOOOOOOOOOO!

 **Nanakon** : Too bad.

 **Konakona** : By the way, what happened in college?

 **Nanakon** : The start of something interesting. Speaking of which, we're talking about the big Hiiragi twin all the time, right?

 **Konakona** : …

 **Nanakon** : …

 **Konakona** : …

 **Nanakon** : …

 **Konakona** : Topic change?

 **Nanakon** : Topic change!

 **Konakona** : Oh, I almost forgot! While my slightly increased ingame time, I found an unexplored dungeon in that new area and the loot inside is totally broken.

 **Nanakon** : What kind of broken? The good or the bad kind?

 **Konakona** : I made more gold with drops in the last week than in the last six months.

 **Nanakon** : WHAAT?! No way…

 **Konakona** : Oh, and I also got that unique legendary sword there…

 **Nanakon** : Let's get going. NOW!

 **Konakona** : Sure, follow me.

Konata led her to the dungeon and the two played nothing was wrong. Without her even realizing, Konata had considerably loosened up and decided to push forward instead of ignoring the issue. Kuroi-sensei really did a good job in getting her to talk by confronting her. The reward for her was also pretty good. Not only was she able to give one of her student or friend really good advice, the dungeon Konata found really had stupidly good rewards. The two played for a good amount of time together, but the toll the week took on Konata was great and she finally felt tired enough to sleep in her own bed again. Her extreme tiredness and the reduced anxiousness, thanks to Kuroi-sensei, made her forget Kagami at the moment and she quickly fell asleep.

Konata slept through the entire Sunday.

…..

The next week started and things were looking a bit better again. After finding someone to talk, both, Kagami and Konata, did better in school again. Almost to the point before everything happened, which means Konatas improvement wasn't that much. Kagami and Konata still haven't talked to each other and she still stayed in her own class during lunch, but both started talking with her classmates again, Kagami with her own ones and Konata mainly with Tsukasa and Miyuki. Both were still really curious about what's going on. Tsukasa because she wanted to know more about Konatas side to help her sister and Miyuki because she still has no idea at all. They tried, but as soon the topic diverted in that direction, Konata just brushed it off and both gave up in the end.

…

The week progressed a bit and Kagami finally had an idea for Konata's birthday on the weekend. School was just over and she had pulled Tsukasa aside.

"Hey sis, are you free after school right now?"

"Hmm? I think so… why?"

"I've got an idea for Kona's birthday, but I need help, or rather, mental support." Kagami said to her but the end sounded a bit worrisome.

"M-Mental support?" Tsukasa tilted her head a little because she was a bit confused.

"Well… for the present I want to get her, I need to go to Kona's stupid anime shop in Akiba."

"Oh, I see… I can see why you don't want to go alone."

"Yeah, I would rather die in a fire than do that." Kagami said so and Tsukasa thought it was a joke but she looked quite serious.

Tsukasa agreed and both went to Akiba together. Nothing noteworthy happened on the way to the shop, at least nothing a death glare by Kagami solve that it. The two entered the shop and after the escorting mission was over, for now, Tsukasa went for a stroll on her own inside. Kagami directly went to a clerk to ask for something.

"Hello, I'm looking for something…"

"Yes? Oh… it's Izumi-san's tsund… I mean girl… ehm sorry, friend. How can I help you?" A familiar looking female clerk answered to her call. It was the same one that helped Konata with the Cosplay before.

"Y-Yeah… hello… Wait, I'm not a tsundere and what do you wanted to say… girl…?

"N-Nothing…" The clerk tried her best not to laugh at the textbook like answer from her. "How did you like the Cosplay?"

"It was intere… OI!" Kagami almost carelessly revealed something she didn't want to and stopped. Luckily, Tsukasa was too far away to hear anything. "Why do you know about that!?"

"I helped Izumi-san choosing the right size for you."

"I see… so you're partly responsible for all this, huh?" Anger was clearly present in her voice, but a building up tsundere rage was nothing for a professional clerk in Akiba couldn't handle.

"So, what are you here for?" The topic just got completely ignored.

"Oh, yeah… ehm I'm looking for a manga." Kagami explained what manga exactly she's looking for and the clerk started thinking about it.

"Yes, I know that manga, but you're a bit too early…

"Too early?"

"The release of it will be next week."

"Eh? Really? Great… there goes a part of my plan for Kona's birthday…"

"Hmm?" The clerk didn't fully understand.

"Konata's… erm, 'Izumi-san's' birthday is on the weekend and part of my gift was supposed to be the manga…"

"Really? Her birthday is on the weekend… That's bad… I can't let her girl… argh, ehm friend fail her plans for the present. Please wait a moment." The clerk said so and suddenly disappeared to somewhere.

"O-Okay…?"

The clerk came back to Kagami about five minutes later and was holding a manga in her hand.

"I shouldn't do it, but here…" She handed it over to her. "We already have in stock, but technically aren't allowed to sell it yet."

"Eh? Is that really okay?"

"As long as you don't tell our other customers about it."

"I wouldn't even talk for money with them."

"Or my boss…"

"No, I won't. It's only good for me after all. Thank you."

"Only the best for Izumi-san's… friend(!) I hope her birthday is a success."

"So do I." Kagami went together with the clerk and paid for the manga. She said goodbye to her afterward, collected Tsukasa and left the store.

"Hey onee-chan, found what you wanted?"

"Yeah, I got it. What about? Have you seen something interesting? You completely disappeared in the shop."

"I did actually, they had an interesting looking dessert cookbook."

"A cookbook… in this store?"

"It's apparently about deserts from manga and anime or something like that…"

"Ah, I see…" Kagami rolled her eyes because she wasn't sure what she was expecting.

"But it's too expensive for me right now. Maybe I'll get it after our birthday if I get a little money there."

"Well, it isn't that long away after all." It was the end of May right now and the birthday of the twins is in the beginning of July so Tsukasa hasn't to wait that long.

"Yes, but first is Kona-chan on the weekend."

"I still can't believe she's actually the older one…"

"By the way, do you have a plan for what you want to do now, onee-chan?" It's going to be the first time for Kagami to see Konata again and she didn't want to be unprepared.

"I think so… We all wanted to go over to Kona on Sunday, right? I think I'll go on Saturday already. Kona's actual birthday is there and you won't have to keep Miyuki busy in order to give us some alone time together."

"I see." Tsukasa nodded in agreement. "It sounds like a good idea."

"I hope things will go back to normal with her soon." Kagami was already sick of how it's right now between them.

"Just back to normal?" Tsukasa was actually able to tease her with it.

"One step after another…" Spending time together was her first priority now. After all, without the two not even talking together, any further progress is basically impossible.

"Oh, that's right! I almost forgot… The store had Cosplay costumes. Kona-chan likes Cosplay, doesn't she? Maybe you could surprise her with it." Tsukasa thought she made another nice suggestion, but the reaction she got from Kagami was not like she expected. She stopped walking, turned completely white and her eyes looked like she was remembering something.

"W-What?!" She really wasn't expecting that now.

"Not good? I thought it would be fun…"

"No… I think that would be too embarrassing for me to do right now…"

"Oh, I see… that's true." Tsukasa agreed with her. _'Wait… right now?'_

 _'_ _Hmm…'_ Kagami wasn't completely appalled by it, though.

….

Konata's week also was a lot more relaxing. She slept a lot more, the ratio school and home switched a little again, and her gaming times were also back to normal again. At least her online game that is. She started playing a lot more dating simulations, especially those without any males present. For research purposes obviously, but there was a problem.

"What's up with these games? They have nothing in common with all that I experienced… Why do they have nothing in common with reality? Isn't that what they're made after?" No, they definitely aren't. "Well, they're fun, so it's all good, even if it's unrealistic, but it's no good for my plans…" learning how to read Kagami with games wasn't one of Konatas better ideas. "Whatever, I guess I'll ask sensei later for more tips again. She's actually surprisingly useful when it comes to this." Ever since Kuroi-sensei found out about Konata's situation, both occasionally chatted over their online game and worked on some strategies. "Well, I guess I still have some time later for that. Sensei's being only anyway, no matter the time. Seriously, she scolds me for playing too much, but she's always already playing when I log in and still plays when I log off again.

Konata continued to play her dating 'simulation' and the weekend with her birthday was just around the corner.

* * *

.

Maybe someone realized, the beginning is basically chapter 1 from the other side.

I think it was a little bit cringy here and there (I'm not good with serious stuff…) and messy because of the long mono- and dialogues, but that was all I could do.

It probably was a little bit too quick from the realization to the acceptance, but I really hate it when stuff like that drags over like 20 pages (or 342 manga chapters for example, or whole anime season) and so I made it quick.

Tsukasa new best girl… :)

Next chapter is obviously about Kagamis birthday plans for Konata and maybe more, depends on how long it gets because I want to do a little shorter chapters. The last one was a 'bit' long. (Now splitted but splitted chapters also kind of sucks…) Short still means something between 5k-10k words so not really short in the end…


	19. Awkwardness

The day of Konata's birthday, Saturday, and Kagami, together with a bag in her hand, was standing in front of her house. She had already rung the bell twice, but nothing happened. It was nothing new and she wasn't anything else, but Kagami was a bit hesitant with using her own key because it didn't feel right to her in the current situation to just enter. She had no other choice, though, and took the key to enter the house in the end.

"H-Hello?" She awkwardly greeted anyone who heard her, but there was no response.

"Hmm…" It looked like no one was there. Kagami closed the door behind her, took a quick look in the kitchen and living room, but after seeing no one, she went upstairs to Konata's room. She stopped in front of the door and knocked a few times. "H-Hey K-Kona, it's me… Kagami..." She was really anxious meeting Konata again and her voice cracked a few times, but there was still no response.

She waited a bit longer, but in the end, Kagami stepped inside the room. She wasn't really surprised anymore when she saw that the room was empty, she still was a bit troubled about it, though.

"So… ehm… what now?" She was looking around inside Konata's room and wasn't sure what to do now. Kagami slowly walked towards the bed, sat down on it, and her expression loosened up a little.

"Haa… not even two weeks since the last time I was here and I'm almost feelings nostalgic here…" She said so and let herself fall backward on the bed while letting out a comfortable sigh.

"I really missed being here…"

…..

It took a while, but the owner of the room finally came back and was pretty confused. Konata entered, stopped and turned her head to the side because she was hearing something and didn't know how to react after finding the source of the noise.

"Huh? Eh… what?" Looking at her bed revealed something completely unexpected. Not only wasn't she expecting Kagami at all, her sleeping on the bed was even more surprising. It looks like she had fallen asleep while waiting for Konata. Kagami was currently lying on top of the blanket, curled up in a ball while giving off faint breathing noises.

"Uh… w-what happened here…? Why is Kagamin~ here…?" Her brain couldn't process the situation.

"Is today my birthday or what? … Oh... Nevermind that… who gave me that kind of present and more importantly, can I keep it?" Konata sat down on the floor next to her bed and kept staring at the sleeping face of her 'present' for far longer than she's ever going to admit, but she also was a bit nervous at the same time.

"W-What do I do when she wakes up? I really wanted to see her again, now that I managed to come to terms with everything, but I though she'll come tomorrow, together with the others and not today and alone…" As if asked for it, Kagami started moving a little and slowly woke up. She opened her eyes and directly stares into Konata's own.

"…"

"…"

Awkward. Only one word was needed to describe the situation. Even so, both continued to stare at each other because they were captivated by their eyes, but thanks to being over conscious ever since the two found out about their real feelings, embarrassment started to win over the situation. Both looked away in different directions soon after they couldn't stand it anymore.

 _'_ _I won't survive this day…'_ Not only their actions were in sync.

Silence wrapped around the two and both were thinking about how to break the ice. Konata was the first to say something.

"So... uhm, good morning?"

"H-Huh? Oh, yeah… thanks…"

"…"

"…"

The awkward silence was back and stronger and ever. Starting a conversation was never this had before for either of them. Thinking hard about it, Konata finally remembered something.

"Quick question here, Kagamin~…"

"What is it?"

"Ehm… how about we start with that: Why are you sleeping in my bed?"

"Uh, good question… Actually, the last I remember was that I sat down on your bed."

"I see… the curse of my bed trapping wild tsunderes, huh?"

"Shut up." Kagami answered with something that wasn't heard for a long time by Konata and she immediately started snickering a bit, which quickly turned into a full laughter. Kagami first only stared at her, but soon loosened and started smiling on her own because she felt the tension she had subsiding a little.

"Haa… I really missed you being here, Kagamin~."

"Eh?! R-Really?" She wasn't expecting that. "I-I mean, yeah… I was rather… busy lately. Sorry for that."

"It's fine, I had a lot on my plate as well, but that brings me directly to my next question: Why are you even here?"

"You know that your birthday is today, right?"

"Yes, I actually do know about that, but didn't you all wanted to come over tomorrow?"

"Is there something wrong with me wanting to spend the actual day with you?"

"N-No, I guess there isn't…" If anything, Konata was really happy hearing these words. She tried her best not to show it, though.

"Well then, happy birthday, Kona."

"T-Thank you very much, Kagamin~."

Kagami grabbed her bag beside the bed and after a bit of rummaging in it, she gave Konata a neatly wrapped gift.

"Here, for you."

"Thanks." She opened the present and found a manga in it. "Hey, isn't this…"

"Yep, it's the adaption of the light novel I was talking about last time."

"Wow, that's great. But… how? I looked it up on the internet because I was really interested, but the release is supposed to be next week, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it wasn't exactly easy…"

"Hmm?" Konata tilted her head a little.

"I almost went to Akiba for nothing because I didn't know about that, but thanks to a little irritating but nice clerk, I managed to get it a little early."

"You went just for me to Akiba? Only to get me a present? Wow, that makes me pretty happy."

"I-I'm glad you like it." Kagami was expecting to be teased and not be rewarded with something so sincere. Because of that, she became a bit embarrassed again.

"Wait a moment… a in your eyes 'irritating but nice' clerk… oh… is she okay?" She had a bad feeling about her favorite clerk.

"Do you think I killed her just because she's an accomplice in the whole cosplay 'incident'?"

"Ehm…" Konata wasn't sure if there was a right answer.

"Don't worry, she's fine."

"Oh, that's good…" She sighed in relief.

"By the way, that's only part one of my gift for you, Kona."

"Eh? Even more? How am I supposed to ever beat you on your birthday then?"

"It doesn't always have to be a competition with me…"

"Kagamin~…" She just stared at her.

"Okay… nevermind. I'm expecting much then."

"I'll blow your mind!"

"Sure… but don't you want to know what part two of my gift is?"

"Oh… yeah, sure."

"I'll spend an entire day with you in Akiba or anywhere else I usually refuse and buy you something you want there, within reasonable limits that is, and all that without me nagging." Kagami made it sound like it was purely a present for Konata, but in the end, the main object of her was to spend as much time as possible with her and maybe even get something date like out of it.

"W-What?!" Konata really didn't see that one coming. "Wow… I think I was a bit too hasty with my boasting earlier… How can I top that…?"

"Too late now, good luck."

"Eh?! Ah, I totally forgot about Kagamin~ v2…"

"What was that?"

"Nothing… Well then, let's get going!"

"Huh? Right now?"

"Yeah, it's not like we have something better to do right now."

"That's true, but…"

"Come on, Kagamin~." Konata was getting a bit impatient and without thinking, she grabbed Kagami's hand in order to drag her out of the room. It backfired pretty quick, though. She only managed to get her off the bed before realizing what she's doing and let Kagami go again. Just the short touch was enough for Konata to completely lose her composure again. It made her completely nervous and embarrassed in an instant and all confidence from before was gone. Kagami didn't realize any of this because she was going through the same.

"O-Okay… I-I get it. J-Just give me a minute…"

"S-Sure… I… I'll wait downstairs then…"

Both tried their best to remain calm, but it was just barely working and Konata decided to flee for the time being. She went to the kitchen to drink something while waiting for Kagami.

"Oh, that's no good. I can't even touch Kagamin~ anymore without losing it. What'll happen if she completely transforms into Kagamin~ v2 again? I'll die for sure…" Konata had no idea that she was being that over conscious of her, but Kagami really was no different.

"That's bad… just a little touch by Kona and I almost completely lost it. Just what will happen if she's going to hug me like she usually does." Kagami took a little longer than a minute, which didn't displeasure Konata at all, but finally came downstairs and both left for Akiba.

…..

The train ride to Akiba was a little awkward in the beginning, but their will to get over it was stronger and by the time they arrived, both were talking normally with each other again.

"So, where does the birthday girl first wants to go?"

"Well… seeing Kagamin~ looking at the Akiba crowd without falling into tsundere rage… I can't think of anything I want to do anymore…"

"It's a one-time deal, so better get the most of it."

"That's also true. Oh, there's a really good shop for cos…"

"No." Kagami interrupted her even before she got the chance to fully say the word 'cosplay' because of multiple reasons. It was already embarrassing enough the first time and right now, she really doesn't think it would end well. She also didn't want Konata to find out that she's starting to take a liking to it.

"Aww, too bad…" Konata was genuinely sad, but also a tiny bit relieved because she also was a scared about what would happen if she's seeing Kagami cosplaying.

"Anything else?"

"Hmm… Oh, let's go to that game shop over there. We need a new game because the old one is more or less over." She quickly changed her plans. Buying a game was the perfect idea. It was the perfect excuse in order to get Kagami to stay over at her place again.

"Oh, you're right, good idea." Kagami had the exact same idea.

The two went inside the game store and started looking around. It took them a while, but both finally found a game that seemed interesting and long enough to kill quite a few nights together. Kagami bought the game for Konata, or rather for both because she got the same merits Konata had in mind while choosing and the two left the store again.

"Hmm… I'm getting kind of hungry. What about you, Kagamin~? No, wait… don't answer…"

"Oi!"

"Uhh… Oh, pancakes!" Konata completely ignored her and saw an advertise of a nearby café. "Let's go there."

"Pancakes, huh? Sounds good, I'm in."

Konata and Kagami went inside the café and both ordered a set of pancakes. While waiting for it, they decided to chat a little.

"So, Kagamin~, anything interesting happened lately? It feels like forever since we saw each other…"

"W-What… ehm i-interesting you say? That's uh… n-no, nothing interesting, just a lot of projects in school." She had a hard time answering because there was no way she could say the truth. "W-What about you, Kona?" Kagami quickly threw it back to her, mainly because she wanted to avoid accidentally blowing her cover, but also because she hadn't heard anything from Konata either.

"M-Me? Hmm, n-no, nothing interesting either, I guess. I just spent a lot of time with Kuroi-sensei in our online game lately." She wasn't exactly lying, but Konata deliberately skipped the interesting parts.

"…"

"…"

The awkward silence was back once more and both started thinking about something.

 _'_ _Is it just me or is she behaving a bit weird?'_ It seemed like both noticed something at the same time. _'Well… the way I'm acting right now… No, I really can't blame her for reacting a bit weird with the way I freak out at every little thing.'_ Both also came to the same unfortunate misunderstanding.

The silence and their train of thoughts were interrupted by a waitress who brought their pancakes. Both started eating and thanks to that, the atmosphere from before was gone for good. The two chatted about other things again and after finishing their pancakes, both left the café again.

"Anything else you want to do, Kona?"

"Hmm… Nope, I don't think so. I got a new manga, a game and day with Kagamin~. I can't think of anything else than going home and test the game to top the day."

"S-Sure, let's do that."

"Yay!" Konata was happy and both made their way back to her home.

They had just exited a station near Konata's house and she decided to take a different way because she was still looking for the mountain Kagami used for the training of her teasing abilities.

"Hmm... it isn't here either…" Obviously, she didn't find anything.

"What isn't here?"

"Huh? Oh, uh… nothing, forget it."

"Okay…?" Konata had almost forgot about Kagami.

"But I think this way is a bit shorter than the one I usually take…"

"Yeah, mine's also longer."

"W-What? You have your own way?! Where?"

"Does that really matter?"

"No, I suppose not…" Konata made a mental note of finding that way and both continued their walk.

"It's kind of interesting here, though. Oh, there's even a jewelry store." Kagami said as she found a fancy looking store at the corner of the street.

"You're into jewelry, Kagamin~?"

"Not that much, but I've been looking for a nice necklace for some time already."

"Necklace, huh?" Konata started thinking about something and both stopped at the jewelry store. "Anything interesting there?"

"Hmm…" Kagami looked through the window of the store. "Not really, they're all too… fancy. I wanted something simple and unflashy, but those somehow got quite rare nowadays."

"I see~." Konata felt like she got some nice information just now. "Well, there's no helping it. Let's go home already."

Sure, let's go." The two continued their trip after the unexpected stop and soon reached Konata's house.

…

Both were sitting on the bed in Konata's room, although with a bit more distance than usual between them, and were getting ready for a session of the new game they had bought.

"Wow, the character editor of this game is even more complex."

"Yeah, it's almost a game of its own."

"See you in an hour, Kagamin~."

The two had decided on an action type RPG with a two player option with the longest playtime they could find. It took both even more than an hour to finish, but both finally made their favorite looking characters.

"You took way too long, Kona."

"You only finished five minutes earlier…"

"Anyway, what do we have to do now?"

"Well, it's more or less a traditional RPG, it should start with a tutorial soon enough."

"I see."

The tutorial started and it showed them the basics of the game. The main story, doing quests, traveling, crafting and upgrading weapons and armor, the fighting system and much more.

"Wow, we're going to spend a lot of time with the game."

"Yeah, looks like it."

"Let's do the first quest, Kagamin~."

The tutorial ended soon enough and both went to the first quest in order to get their starting equipment. The quest was short and after getting the equipment, the two started leveling and exploring the world in order to progress with the upcoming quests.

"Hmm… hey Kagamin~, is it just me or is your character class better than mine for killing low-level enemies?" Konata started noticing after killing several monsters. She was playing a magician type and Kagami a warrior type.

"You think so? Isn't it more likely that I'm just better?"

"Yeah… eh, no."

"Thanks… Well, magic is normally something for later, isn't it?"

"That might be it. I probably need to level up some more to get more effective."

The two continued their journey of killing enemies and after freeing an entire cave from all live, it was time for them to progress the story. They had to defeat their first boss. The boss was a tough one, but in the end, the winner was clear.

Kagami hadn't noticed, but while playing the game, her anxiousness really subsided by a great margin and both had naturally gotten closer on the bed.

 _'_ _How I missed that…'_ Kagami started thinking about the situation. _'Chatting and playing with Kona, just overall having a good time together, I just missed being with her…'_ She was feeling more comfortable around Konata again, but the tension soon returned. It was already late at night and the boss battle only added to that. Konata was already pretty tired and being with Kagami all day long mentally exhausted her even more. She closed her eyes for a moment and instantly fell asleep. While falling asleep, Konata's head found its way to Kagami's arm and decided to rest there. She was totally out of it, but Kagamis was far from relaxed again.

"Eh?! K-Kona? W-Wait…" She started freaking out a little. "Huh? Oh… I forgot about something really, really important. W-Where do I sleep?! I can't sleep t-together with Kona in the same bed… What now? But… I also can't sleep on a futon, can I? I mean, how should I explain it tomorrow? The last time we haven't slept in the same bed was… When was it again? I don't even remember… Still, what would happen if my habit of hugging her acts up again? I would die, simply die out of embarrassment!" The conflict of whether to share the bed or not was great. On one side, she obviously wanted to sleep together in order to enjoy the warmth of the girls she missed so much, but at the same time Kagami was scared that she accidentally could let slip something or even do something doesn't want to at this point. Still, in the end, the bed won because of various reasons. She gently pushed Konata away from her arm and laid her down on the bed. Kagami was about to lay down on her own, but stopped doing so. She looked at Konata sleeping beside her and slightly gulped. Kagami was captivated by her sleeping face and stared at it for a couple minutes until she finally came back to reality.

"W-What am I now? A pervert?" She slapped both of her cheeks with her hands a couple times to snap out of it. She wasn't only watching Konata, Kagami also even came a bit closer to her without realizing it. "That's bad… I need to go sleep. NOW!" She shook her head and laid down while facing Konata with her back. The last thing she wanted to happen now, was to 'accidentally' hug her now. It took her really long to calm down and get her heart rate back to normal, but Kagami finally fell asleep on her own.

….

Konata was greeted by the sun rays of a new day and after she had adjusted to the light, her eyes grew wide.

"W-What?!" She was looking at the slender back of a girl. Kagami, the girl she was in love with, was sleeping right in front of her and it was too much too much for her to process after just waking up. She continued to watch her back until her brain finally had been able to catch up.

"R-Right… We played our new game together and… did I fall asleep? Hmm… looks like it… G-Good thing she isn't hugging me… Holding back would be out of the question then. But at the same time… I can't say that I'm not disappointed… Well, she has a really nice back to look at, so I guess it's not all bad…"

A few minutes passed and Konata was starting to get tired of watching. Okay, maybe it was more than a few minutes and maybe Konata just had a better idea than just watching. She raised her arm and gently poked Kagami's back.

 _'_ _Hmm, nothing happened, huh? Okay, my hand started shaking a bit just because of a mere touch… stupid brain, stop it already… but Kagamin~ didn't react. Hey, maybe I can use that for getting able to touch her a little again, without freaking out that is.'_ She continued to poke Kagamis back with multiple fingers. She felt a bit stupid, but that was the best plan Konata could come up with and she wasn't really complaining about being able to touch her.

"… Hey Kona… what are you… up to…?" Someone started waking up, partially at least.

"Y-You're awake?" S-Since when?"

"Uh… since the… last three… or four pokes maybe?"

"I-I see…" Konata was relieved that she didn't hear her monolog.

"So… what's up with the poking…?"

"I… uh, yes, I just wanted to wake you up, nothing more…"

"I see." Kagami was still sleepy and hadn't noticed Konata's acting because of that.

"B-But that sure was one of the easier ways to wake you up, Kagamin~."

"Shut up, but I'm rather happy you didn't kick me out again in order to wake me."

"That was so your own fault back then."

"Sure… Anyway, any reason for the 'gentle' approach?"

"Hmm? N-No, I, uh… just wanted to avoid a moody Kagamin~."

"I see…" Thanks to still being a bit sleepy, Kagami was less aware of her feelings and unconsciously was a bit better at acting normally.

"But I can go back to the old methods next if that's more to your liking."

"N-Next time?!" And she's awake, so much for acting normally again.

"Uh, yeah… you'll come over again, right?"

"Ah… you meant that… S-Sure, I'll come more often again now."

"That's great, but what could I have meant?"

"N-Nothing… I'm still a bit sleepy, feel free to ignore me."

"If you say so. Well, I also could use a bit more rest. Let's just keep lying down and do nothing, Kagamin~."

"Uh, that sounds really good, let's do that."

They decided to stay in the bed for some time and repositioned herself in order to face the ceiling, just like Konata already was. The silence was back, but it wasn't that awkward right now. Both were just enjoying each others presence. Not looking at the other person also helped them a lot with staying calm and made them able to just enjoy the warmth of the other girl in the bed. After feeling really comfortable, both started chatting about various things and settled with their game as the main topic in the end. They mainly discussed strategies for progressing their quests, but it soon came back to the discussion of their classes and how Kagami currently was being better at defeating enemies. She felt like teasing Konata about it again a little. Kagami made a bit fun of it and Konata wasn't exactly liking it and started fighting back. Their playful fight was getting heated up and both were forgetting about their current state of mind and started wrestling with each other. Konata clung to her arm and Kagami and Kagami decided to tickle her a bit. Both were laughing and fighting at the same time in the bed. It got more and more heated up and both were getting closer and closer, but only to become instantly aware of their feelings again as their faces were only inches apart from each other. The two completely froze in their tracks and instantly looked away while blushing from ear to ear. The playful atmosphere was completely gone and silence replaced it instead. Things got awkward once more because both accidentally went too far again. Not too far in terms of how they were before, but too far for their minds to keep up after adding their feelings to the mix. The two still need to learn how to get naturally closer again at a speed they feel comfortable with.

 _'_ _These stupid feelings, they're ruining everything…'_ Konata wasn't happy with the situation at all. _'No… that's not it… it's my fault for overdoing it. I really have to learn to live with these feelings in order to progress. I also only make things awkward for Kagamin~… She only wants to spend time and I'm just ruining the mood…'_ Konata was trying to fire herself up and Kagami also was lost in thoughts.

 _'_ _What's up with all that awkwardness here? I need to get a grip already… I can't just get all fired up, only to lose it a moment later again. It only gets awkward because of me after all. One time we're playing like normal and then -bam- I make things awkward… That's unfair for Kona because she's doing nothing wrong…'_

Their thoughts were completely in sync, but at the same time, so far away from each other.

Konata and Kagami spent the next couple minutes in complete silence because neither managed to say anything. They only tried their best to calm down in order to stop the awkwardness.

"H-Hey Kagamin~, how about we go downstairs and have some breakfast?" Konata voiced the first thing she could think of.

"B-Breakfast sounds good. Yeah, let's do that." Kagami agreed to the proposal and both went to the kitchen to prepare and eat breakfast. It didn't take them long to eat something and soon were back in her room again. The event from before earlier got completely ignored from both, but the mood after eating something was better again.

"When did Tsukasa and Miyuki wanted to come again?"

"Kona, it's your party…"

"Yeah, and who planned everything?"

"Fair point… They should come in an hour."

"Okay, so we have 59 minutes and 55 seconds before Miyuki arrives and 1.5 to two hours before Tsukasa does, right?"

"Oi! Well, yeah… more or less…"

"What should we do until then, Kagamin~?"

"Hmm, not much time to start something… How about we just watch TV until then?"

"Is anime okay?"

"As long as it's not the hiking one…"

"Don't worry, the next episode airs tomorrow."

"…" Kagami decided not to answer, but to hit her forehead instead.

….

Exactly one hour of watching TV passed and the doorbell rang.

"As expected from Miyuki, perfectly on time."

The two, Kagami decided to tag along, went downstairs, opened the door and they saw a little surprise. Miyuki was there as expected, but she wasn't alone. Tsukasa was standing right next to her.

"3-2-1…" Tsukasa started counting as soon as the door opened.

"Happy birthday, Kona-chan | Izumi-san." The two said together after the countdown was over.

"T-Thank you…" Konata was a bit surprised by the sudden attack and needed a second to answer. "Please, come in."

Miyuki and Tsukasa stepped inside and Konata directly had a question.

"So… Tsukasa, what brings you here?"

"What do you mean, Kona-chan?"

"You're awfully on time…"

"That's sooo mean." She started pouting a little in response.

"So sis, how?" Kagami was doubting her as much as Konata was.

"Hey… Okay, I was at Yuki-chan's place and we came together." The mystery was instantly solved.

"That explains everything. Well then, let's go to my room. No, wait, you three can go there first and I'll grab some drinks in the kitchen."

"I'll help you, Kona."

"Thanks." She and Kagami went to the kitchen and Tsukasa went to Konata's room. Miyuki stood still for a second or two, shook her head a few times and followed Tsukasa.

The two sat down in the room and started talking.

"It's really good to see them being like normal again, right, Yuki-chan?"

"That's true, but I still really want to know what happened in the first place between them… Hasn't Kagami-san told you anything?"

"N-No…. she hasn't told me a-anything… anything at all." Tsukasa was really bad at lying and instantly started fidgeting nervously. Miyuki obviously noticed this and her eyes grew big in response.

"You do know something, right?"

"I-I really don't…"

"I see… hmm… Do you care to listen to what I think? I was thinking about something for a long time already and I think it's time to share it with someone." Miyuki saw that Tsukasa knows something and so she decided to finally tell her the theory she had.

"What is it, Yuki-chan?"

"I think there's something going on between Izumi-san and Kagami-san…"

"Something going on?"

"They probably like each other, I mean more than just friends…"

"You think so?"

"You don't sound very surprised, Tsukasa-san."

"Ah! Uhm… W-Wait, you mean in a romantic way? Eh? Really? No way… Wow… that's…" Her acting was even worse than her lying and Miyuki clearly wasn't buying it.

"What do you think about it?"

"Hmm… I-I never really thought about it…" She was still trying to cover the secret her sister entrusted her with. "But if it's true, I obviously would want to support them."

"I see, how about helping them a little?"

"Helping them? How?"

"I'm sure they want to find out how the other side feels. How about we…" Miyuki was about to make a proposal when the door opened and the two people in question returned.

"Sorry for the wait, we, uh… nevermind…"

"We'll talk later..." Miyuki whispered to Tsukasa, who nodded, and focused her attention away from her. "No problem, we didn't wait long after all."

"Hey Kona-chan, I brought cake."

"Homemade?"

"Of course."

"And with that, the party is already a success!" Getting handmade sweets from Tsukasa means instant victory.

The rest of the birthday party happened without any incidents. All four girls were chatting about random things as always and had a good time together. Miyuki really wanted to talk with Tsukasa, but it had to wait.

The party was over and Kagami decided to go home with her sister. Tsukasa was thinking about telling her the thing with Miyuki but decided against it. She first wanted to find out what the proposal is.

….

The next week started and the lunch break clique was back to normal again because Kagami finally decided to start coming over to Konata's class again. Everything looked like normal again because the two managed to get their feeling in check at school and not let them leak out. Something else seemed to be different, though. Tsukasa and Miyuki were acting really secretive for some reason Konata and Kagami didn't understand.

The week was a peaceful one. Kagami decided to regularly show up at Konata's place again and it looked like the two were warming up to each other at a good pace. They started to be a lot more playful with each other and the awkward interruptions got a lot less, or it least it took longer for them to happen. The game the two were playing was a great help because it diverted their attention quite well.

The weekend arrived and Konata got an uninvited, but definitely not an unwanted or unpleasant visitor, although the timing maybe was a bit semi-optimal.

"Hello, Kona." Kagami had just entered her room.

"H-Hey there, Kagami~." She saw her entering and for some reason, the contents on her PC-Monitor instantly changed to something different. Kagami naturally saw that.

"Oh, what was that? Is miss high school girl doing something she shouldn't?"

"N-No, of course not. I-I mean, what are you talking about."

"Sure…"

"W-What brings you here, Kagamin~?" She really wasn't doing anything inappropriate. It was something even worse for Kagami to see, but Konata managed to hide it soon enough. She's probably going to hear something from Kuroi-sensei next week for the interrupted chat, though.

"Hmm, I just was a bit bored, I guess."

"Yeah, that sucks… So, a weekend full of gaming?"

"Uh, yeah, sure, sound like a plan."

Konata shut down her PC and both sat down on the bed in order to play the game. The two continued where they left off and basically played the whole day to the brink of exhaustion without any major incidents. Things were looking better already. The two seemed closer again and the awkwardness was only a thing in their mind anymore and didn't show up that much anymore. They often teased each other while gaming or playfully nudged each other when one of them died ingame. All in all, it was going very smooth between them, on the surface at least. Their minds were still a bit more complex because every single action, words or touches had a different meaning now. Especially the night was hard for both, but their exhaustion from all the gaming helped them to relax and fall asleep before anything could happen. It was still not as good as they wanted, but it was going into a good direction.

The next week also progressed nicely. Kagami basically lived at Konata's place again and both could handle the situation better from day to day. There was one problem, though. The progress the two made in finding out how the other one feels was basically zero. The weekend was just around the corner and Konata got a sudden call from Tsukasa. She wanted all of them to meet up for some reason.

* * *

.

Konata and Kagami being all awkward is harder and more awkward (no pun intended) to write than I thought.

I don't have much else to say here… Well, I guess nothing much happened here besides the two getting to know each other again after the change in their relationship, but Miyuki finally has someone to talk to.

The next chapter should have a bit more of progress again. The chapter also could (or rather should) take a little longer for two reasons. First, my holidays are over… and… I have no idea what'll happen in the next chapter, so no teaser here.


	20. Miyuki and Tsukasa's plan

It was Saturday and Konata had just arrived at the Hiiragi home. She had gotten a rather vague message from Tsukasa, who wanted to gather everyone at her house.

"I wonder what she's up to… Good thing it's Tsukasa then… I don't have to be scared then, I think…" Konata was standing in front of the door and didn't have to wait long for someone to open it.

"Yes? Oh… hello, Konata, that's a surprise, come in." Miki opened the door and after seeing who it was, she quickly gestured her inside.

"Hey, Miki."

"It's rare seeing you here. I don't think I can approve of this behavior anymore!"

"Ehh? Well, I guess I can try to come over more often then…"

"That's what I wanted to hear." Miki was happy enough with the answer, but she wasn't done with Konata yet. "It's good to see that the fight you had with Kagami is over again."

"Huh? Fight? We had a fight?"

"Was I wrong? Tsukasa told me you were acting a bit odd a little while ago and I could see Kagami on my own."

"Ah… t-that…" Konata remembered the week after realizing her feelings for Kagami. A week she really wanted to forget about. "No, it wasn't exactly a fight…"

"Hmm~" Miki summed in a happy tone. "If not a fight, what was it?"

"H-Huh?! W-What it was… uh… That's a bit… complicated and I don't really want to talk about it…"

"I see~ Well, I have the feeling you'll tell me soon enough anyway, so I won't pressure you now."

"That depends on a lot of t-things…" Konata first had to success with something else first before even thinking of telling someone about what happened. Especially because it's partly Miki's fault because her marriage talk was part of the whole trigger for it. "Huh… wait… what?"

"Anyway, why are you here in the first place, Konata?"

"Hmm? Oh, right… Tsukasa ordered me to come over for some reason."

"That's weird…"

"Is it really that surprising for me to come for Tsukasa?"

"Yes." Miki answered without any hesitation at all. "But that's not the problem. Tsukasa isn't even here at the moment."

"Ehh? Where is she?"

"At Miyuki's place."

"Hmm… what's this about…?"

"Yeah, I lost both of my twins… There's Kagami, who's basically every day at your place and Tsukasa is spending more and more time with Miyuki ever since Kagami doesn't have time for her anymore… That's why you have to come over more or else I'll get lonely, you know…"

"I see… I think… I'll come more often… Wait… don't you have two other daughters left?"

"Don't mind the small details, just come over."

"That's my standard line! Okay… but why did Tsukasa call me over in the first place then?"

"No idea, she's been pretty secretive about something lately, though… Maybe it's connected somehow."

"Oh, maybe I should be scared after all…" Konata got a bit worried. "Well, I guess I have to wait until she comes back then."

"Kagami's here, though."

"R-Really?" She quickly became a bit nervous again. "W-Well, I guess I'll pay her a visit then. She's in her room, right? See you later, Miki."

"Sure, have fun~."

….

Konata went upstairs and stopped right in front of Kagami's door. Her nervousness increased once more.

"Kagamin~ visiting me is one thing, but being here now is kind of… Why's Tsukasa not here?! It's almost like she set this up… d-don't tell me she noticed… I mean she can be pretty perceptive with the weirdest things… Or was it Miyuki and both are… What are they doing? Nonono…" Konata strongly shook her head. "Tsukasa's probably only having fun with Miyuki right now and she simply forgot about the meetup. Yeah, that sounds like her." She decided on the reason why Tsukasa was missing, even though she had no Idea that it actually was a mix of everything she just thought of and refocused her attention. Konata knocked on the door and after a brief period of waiting, she entered the room.

"Hey there, Kagamin~."

"Huh? K-Kona!? What are… WHOA!" Kagami as sitting on a chair in front of her desk when Konata entered. She was concentrating on something when the unexpected guest arrived. The surprise made her lose her balance and Kagami almost fell over with her chair, but she barely managed to be safe.

"What a greeting, good job."

"S-Shut up, I just wasn't expecting anyone…"

"What were you concentrating so hard on, anyway?"

"Homework."

"I see… Well then, forget that I asked." That sure wasn't a topic Konata wanted to invest time in.

"No intention of doing the same, huh?"

"What a stupid question to ask, Kagamin~."

"Yeah, sorry… So, what brings you here?"

"Well, I actually would like to know the same thing…"

"Eh? What's that about, you don't know why you're here?"

"First, that never stopped you from coming over, right?"

"P-Point for you…"

"Second, Tsukasa called me over for some reason."

"She did? Why? She isn't even here…"

"And with that, we're back to square one. She probably just forgot about it and is still having fun with Miyuki."

"That does sound like my sister." Kagami agreed to her explanation. _'What is Tsukasa doing? She couldn't have that set up to give us some alone time, right? I'm not complaining… but I probably would've gone to Kona's place later anyway… You can do better than that, sis…'_ She was a bit disappointed, but started smiling a little at the same time because she felt happy that her sister actually tries to help her.

"What's up with that smile?"

"Smile? What smile? I'm not smiling!"

"Sure, if you say so…"

The conversation abruptly ended because Kagami had no follow up and the old awkward silence was about to come back. Both broke eye contact and looked away from each other, but it didn't last as long as it used to be because both got a little bit more used to it and Kagami didn't want to waste Tsukasa's chance if that's what she wanted to accomplish.

"I-I wonder what my sister's up to…"

"Yeah, Miki also said she's behaving rather secretive lately… Hasn't Tsukasa told you anything?"

"Not really… Well, it's not like I've seen her often in the first place. She's always doing something with Miyuki lately."

"Hmm… weird… These two being so secretive is quite suspicious and now I got ordered over for no reason… Should I be scared, Kagamin~?"

"Don't ask me, Tsukasa has at least contacted you, but I don't know anything. By the way, what did you talk with my mom about?"

"We didn't talk that much, but I guess I have to come over more often now."

"Huh?" Kagami got a bit confused as a reaction to it."

"It looks like she missed me…"

"Ah… well… I'm always at your place and so my mom has no chance to see her favorite child…"

"I guess coming here occasionally isn't that bad anyway."

"Yeah, I can take it easy for a change then."

"Sure, because you aren't doing that at my place… Still, I really wonder why I'm here right now."

"Why not call Tsukasa and ask her?"

"Good idea, but you have to do that, Kagamin~."

"Why me?"

"Do I look like someone who brought her phone?"

"Oh… right, you're still Kona after all. Okay, I'll ask her what's going on." Kagami grabbed her phone and called Tsukasa.

 _\- "Oh, hey onee-chan. What's up?"_

"Don't 'what's up' me… Where are you?"

\- _"Hmm? I'm still ehm… yes, at Yuki-chan's place."_

"Why did you invite Kona then?"

\- _"Well… have fun, onee-chan."_

"Oi."

\- _"Sorry, I couldn't help it. We'll be coming over, but we need another hour or so."_

"What are you two doing?"

\- _"That's a secret~."_

"Ehh?"

\- _"Well then, see you later, onee-chan."_

Tsukasa said so and the next thing Kagami could hear, was her hanging up.

"So, what's going on?" Konata couldn't hear Tsukasa's part of the conversation.

"That's… a good question."

"Huh?"

"Looks like your hunch of being scared was a good one. They're up to something."

"Really? What are they doing?"

"I don't know, but Tsukasa lied to me. They weren't at Miyuki's place like she said. It sounded like they were somewhere outside."

"Eh… So we have to wait and fear for our live now, or what?"

"I don't think it's that bad. We're talking about Tsukasa and Miyuki after all."

"I thought the same at the beginning, but are you really sure? I think the combination of a clueless airhead and a smart airhead could lead to something really, really dangerous…"

"Oh…" Kagami couldn't say anything against it. "W-Well, we'll know in an hour, when they come over."

"Oh man…"

"Yeah…" Both simultaneously sighed.

….

The two spent the next hour chatting while watching a bit TV and Tsukasa, together with Miyuki, finally came back home.

"Sorry for the wait, Kona-chan and onee-chan."

"Yes, we're very sorry, but we got held up a little." The two quickly apologized after arriving.

"Save that for later…"

"Yeah, what's going on here, sis? I know you two weren't at Miyuki's place when I called earlier…" Kagami and Konata wanted to find out what's going on as soon as possible.

"Ah… well, we were planning things for something…"

"Planning? Planning for what?!"

"Should we tell them, Yuki-chan?"

"Yes, I guess it's time."

"K-Kagamin~, that bad feeling from earlier is back…"

"Interesting, I kind of had the same feeling just now, Kona…"

"We all are going camping on the next weekend!"

"…"

"…"

"… Eh?" The silence caused by the confusedness of Konata and Kagami didn't last long, but both still looked rather dumbfounded. They weren't sure what to expect from the two, but it sure wasn't something like that. "Wait… what?"

"Camping!" Tsukasa really wasn't any help.

"Sis, we need context, if possible, a lot of it…"

"Yuki-chan's dad found his old camping equipment while cleaning their basement."

"Okay… and how did that end up with us going camping?"

"He became a bit nostalgic and told us about this place in the mountains where he used to go camping with his friends and it sounded really fun."

"We already have the end of June and it's really warm after all."

"W-Wait a moment." Konata suddenly became really interested.

"Oh no…" Kagami had a good idea why.

"We're going camping… in the mountains… WHAT?!"

"You don't like it, Kona-chan?"

"Nonono! We're going! We are so going!"

"Calm down, Kona, and Tsukasa… I don't think it's a good idea…"

"Eh, why not?" Tsukasa got a little closer to Kagami and started whispering. "Think about the possibilities, onee-chan. You two could do so many things together."

"P-Possibilities, huh? Like…" She started imagining a couple things. "Kona!"

"Y-Yes?"

"No disappearing for secret training on me!"

"Ehh? I would never…"

"Kona!"

"Okay… fine…"

"What are they talking about, Tsukasa-san?" Miyuki couldn't follow the conversation.

"I have absolutely no idea. It's probably some kind of inside joke."

"I see, but what did you whisper to Kagami-san that she changed her mind so quickly?"

"A little sister has her tricks." Tsukasa was still trying to hide Kagami's secret and she wasn't exactly lying either.

"Okay…" Miyuki refocused her attention to Kagami and Konata. "So, are you two fine with our idea?"

"Absolutely!" Konata was already sold after the word 'mountain' fell.

"Yeah, I guess it could be fun…" Kagami's motive definitely was a deeper one. Konata was so distracted by the mountain part, that she totally forgot about it.

"Yay! We're going to have so much fun!"

"We should ask mom first, though, sis."

"Don't worry, I already did ask her when we came back earlier."

"You surely thought that through, huh? But you need to ask your dad, Kona."

"Nah, he's so busy with his light novel… I barely even see him anyway lately. He probably wouldn't even notice when I'm gone for a day or two."

"What? R-Really? Are you okay, Kona?" Kagami remembered the talk with Konata's dad once more and got worried if she feels lonely.

"Hmm? Sure, why shouldn't I?"

"A-Ah!" She instantly realized her mistake. "I… ehm… sorry, I forgot that you're the one who does all the household stuff anyway." Her cover-up was actually decent.

"Oh, okay… Well, I'll ask him, but it's not going to be a problem."

"Yeah, that's true. So, Miyuki, do we have to bring anything?"

"Hmm… Tsukasa-san and I already have arranged everything for the actual camping and we only need some food and snack, but we two are going shopping on the day before. Only some spare clothes should be enough."

"I see…"

"That's how I like my preparations. Done by someone else."

"Hey…"

"I'm just joking, Kagamin~. I still need to prepare things for the training after all."

"What did I tell you earlier?"

"No -secret- training, but I just announced it and so, it's not secret."

"Haa… I can't win with you, can I?" Kagami sighed while slowly shaking her head.

"Nope~."

"I guess I have to join your training then, Kona."

"Eh? What? No…"

"After all, I also need training."

"Nah, you're fine the way you are."

"Nope~." Kagami didn't take long to turn the tables.

"Yuki-chan?" Tsukasa leaned closer in order to ask something in private.

"Yes?" She whispered back.

"Why do we need to help them again?"

"Uh…" Miyuki actually didn't know the answer to a question for a rare change.

"Okay, we can do a two-person training, Kagamin~, but I also need a solo run or else I can't take the lead." The two never stopped arguing while Tsukasa and Miyuki had their little exchange.

"No, everything together or no training at all." Kagami's goal in it was rather complex.

"Kaaagaaamiiin~, you only make me run away to do some secret training in the end."

"Oh no, you know you wouldn't dare."

"You don't even need any training…"

"A-Anyway…" Tsukasa tried to stop their discussion. "We'll all meet up at Yuki-chan's place next Saturday in the morning and stay at the camping place until Saturday.

"Why Miyuki's place?"

"All the camping equipment that we haven't already brought over the day before is at my place, Kagami-san, and the mountain is also near my place.

"Ah, I see."

"So, Yuki-chan, should we continue our planning for it then?"

"Absolutely, that's a very good idea."

"Well then, Kagamin~, shall we let the class-trip committee continue their work and we head over to my place and continue our game?"

"Oh… okay, sure, sounds good."

The meeting was over and Tsukasa, together with Miyuki, went to her room. Kagami grabbed a few things and the two then left for Konata's place.

…

A week passed and it was almost time for the camping trip. Konata had asked her father and he obviously had nothing against it. She also finally realized the opportunities of the trip and her training quickly got its priority by a fair bit.

All four met up at Miyuki's place and were getting ready for the trip. Miyuki and Tsukasa divided everything left to carry equally between them and all left the house again. Tsukasa led them to the station. Konata and Kagami stayed silent until now, but after entering the train, Kagami couldn't take it anymore.

"Hey, mind telling Kona and me where we're going?"

"It's a surprise, so, no."

"Eh… Can we at least know how long it's going to take?"

"It's only two stations, but we need to walk quite a bit afterward."

"What? I didn't sign for walking…!" Now it was Konata's turn for complaints.

"Just use it as training." Someone just gave her an incredibly cheeky smirk.

"…"

"Don't be like that, Kona-chan, it's not that bad. Yuki-chan and I already went three times or so in order to prepare things."

"Fine…"

The girls exited the train two stations later and after a fair amount of walking, they reached the bottom of the mountain. A small trail between the trees was leading upwards. The four followed the path for a while until Miyuki and Tsukasa suddenly stopped and led the two in another direction. It didn't look like a trail at all anymore, but the leader group still looked confident. Konata and Kagami, on the other hand, were slowly getting second thoughts about the whole thing while fighting against nature, but their worries were instantly swept away after seeing the scenery in front of them. The forest opened up and a beautiful looking glade appeared. A little green field, together with a river in the background appeared out of nowhere.

"Wow… it's beautiful here!"

"Yeah, I thought for a second we're going to end up in a horror movie back there on the 'trail', but Kagamin~'s right, it's an awesome place."

"Right? Yuki-chan and I thought the same when we first came here."

"Yes, it's indeed very nice here, but let's start with setting up the camp for now."

"Sure." Everyone agreed and went further on the field in order to get rid of the camping equipment they were carrying.

"Okay, we have two tents. Yuki-chan and I'll set up ours and you two do yours. Okay?"

"What's up with the already decided grouping?"

"Hmm?" Well, I want to sleep with Yuki-chan and you two… are used to it anyway…"

"Makes sense… in a way… I guess…" Konata wasn't exactly sure about it.

The two groups quickly set up their tents and went inside to take a look.

"Wow, it sure is small in here. Two people barely fit. I think my bed alone is bigger." Konata tried to measure the size with her arms while making the comparison.

"Y-Yeah…" Kagami also took a closer look and became a bit nervous. _'Oh… I have a bad feeling about this… I'm pretty sure I'm not going to sleep very much this night with Kona being so close. I can't even put just a little distance between us while sleeping like I used to do lately… I hope I won't do anything I'm going to regret.'_

"W-Wait a moment… do we only have one sleeping bag?! It's a big one, b-but…" Konata also got nervous. _'That's not good, a small tent and just one sleeping bag? Do I have the willpower to survive this? Who am I even asking? I, myself, don't even think I can…'_

Both started blushing as a result of their thoughts and left the tent again, only to get greeted by Miyuki and Tsukasa, who started grinning after seeing their faces.

"Wow, Yuki-chan, your plan is working so great." Tsukasa whispered to her.

"H-Hey, you two…" Kagami hadn't noticed their grinning but still had a question. "What's the idea of only having one sleeping bag?"

"Oh, that's actually my fault, onee-chan. I just read the 'two people' part of the description on the packaging and somehow ignored the rest that suggested that it's a single bag for two people. I thought it were two sleeping bags in one package…"

"Nice cover-up, Tsukasa-san." Miyuki was the one who whispered now.

"Oh, I see… I guess it can't be helped then." Kagami actually bought it, either that, or she realized what Tsukasa's trying to do. Either way, she stopped questioning it.

"Hey Tsukasa, do you and Miyuki also only have one?" Konata wanted to confirm something. _'Are they really trying to push me? Have they noticed?'_

"Uhm… yes, the same goes for Yuki-chan and me. It's the same sleeping bag after all."

"Okay, makes sense." She nodded. _'Well, that didn't help at all…'_

"So, to use the words of Kona, what's up next, dear planning committee?"

"Oh, good one, Kagamin~."

"Yes, we could start with building a fireplace so that we can cook something on it later on."

"W-Wait a moment, Miyuki, we're going to cook over an open fire?" Kagami wasn't how she should feel about it.

"Nice idea!" Konata was liking the idea much more. "What are we going to make?"

"We can either make curry, we have a little prepared, or we can try to catch something in the river. We brought fishing rods along." Miyuki was, as always, prepared for everything.

"We're so going to have a contest of who can catch the most fished, Kagamin~."

"Sure, bring it on, Kona!"

"Huh? Okay… easier than expected, I like… your fighting spirit!"

"T-Thanks…" Kagami got a little bashful after hearing the words.

"Y-You're welcome…" Konata also took damage from her own praise.

"…"

"…"

"Anyway…" Miyuki immediately noticed the building awkwardness and decided the change the topic to something different. "Back to the fireplace. How about Tsukasa and I collect some stones to build it and you two look for firewood?"

"Okay." Konata and Kagami answered together.

"Good. I think we should find some good stones at the river, Tsukasa-san."

"Let's go, Kagamin~, whoever finds the best firewood, wins." She had recovered instantly and dashed off.

"Don't overdo it now, Kona…" Despite complaining, Kagami still followed her and both soon disappeared somewhere up the river.

"Really now, are these two blind?" Miyuki simply shook her head while watching them leaving.

"W-Well… it's probably not that easy to realize it if you aren't looking at it from the outside."

"You're probably right, but still…" She let out a small sigh.

"Everything's going to be fine. Let's get the fireplace ready, Yuki-chan. These two shouldn't take long if they're this fired up."

"Yes."

The two went to the riverbank and collected several rocks to build the fireplace.

….

Konata and Kagami were still walking alongside the river while looking for wood, but Konata's attention soon shifted towards something else. The river took a turn and a waterfall suddenly appeared right behind it.

"Well, that explains the sound we've been hearing for some time." Kagami's reaction a bit weak.

"Wow, I've already found my training place, huh?"

"Eh?" She didn't understand Konata's statement.

"Can training get any more classic than meditating while sitting under a waterfall?"

"You don't actually want to…"

"Hmm?" Konata's shoes were already gone. "Did you say something, Kagamin~?"

"W-Wait a moment! You're actually going to s-strip here, right?" She already started blushing.

"W-What? No, wet shoes are just pretty unpleasant…"

"What about the rest of your clothes?"

"Y-You want me to strip or what?" Konata also started getting a bit red.

"Hey… Wait!" That's not the main problem here!" She didn't deny it, though. "Are you really going? I think the water pressure under the waterfall is going to hurt quite a bit."

"That's what training is for."

"I wonder about that…"

"You're not going to join me? I thought you wanted to train together with me?"

"Nah, I'll let that one be your independent session. I'll just watch that you won't drown in the process."

"Great!" Konata entered the river and slowly wandered towards the waterfall. She looked very confident right before it, but as soon as the first batch of falling water hit her body, she instantly jumped away and landed butt first in the river.

"A-Are you okay?" Kagami wasn't sure if she should be worried or give in to the urge of laughing uncontrollably right now.

"K-Kagamin~…?"

"Yes?"

"H-How can water hurt that much?"

"Well… the force of falling water is quite high…"

"Why didn't you warn me?"

"I did!"

"Oh… you're right…" She remembered her words from before entering the river.

"So, now what, Kona?"

"Waterfall meditating is officially canceled!"

"I figured that much. I mean… that…" Kagami gestured at her. Konata was still in the river and was obviously completely drenched from head to toe.

"Hmm… It's super hot today and the water feels extremely nice… I regret nothing." She had no intention of leaving the water. Instead, she just leaned back and started floating in the water a little.

"Really? Isn't it cold?"

"Nope, just refreshing." Konata took her hand and used it to splash some water at Kagami. "See?"

"Oi! Hey… It's really kind of nice…"

"Exactly, but that's not nearly enough, don't you think?" She now used both of her hands to splash water at her. Kagami soon started dripping from all the water.

"You're playing a dangerous game there, Kona."

"Oh, really?" She showed no sign of stopping and another wave of water came flying towards Kagami and directly hit her face. "Bring it on!"

"Big mistake." Kagami's face turned evil and without saying another word, she also took off her shoes and jumped straight at Konata. Both fell over, landed in the water and started wrestling with each other. The river wasn't very deep and so it was possible to sit on top of each other without one of them drowning. The two playfully fought over the position on top and changed it multiple times. Both got completely soaked with water and started calming down soon enough. They let go of each other and simply relaxed in the refreshing water.

"What are we doing here?" Kagami couldn't help shaking her head a few times.

"Having fun?" Konata on the other hand just tilted her head questioningly.

"I have the feeling we're forgetting something, though…"

"It can't be that important when even you forgot."

"You aren't even trying to remember, right?"

"Remember what?"

"Shut up, you stupid little idiot…" Kagami gave up and simply tackled Konata again, causing both to get submerged in the water again.

"Who's the unreasonable one here again?"

"That's you, Kona."

"I wonder about that sometimes…"

"Just because I, also, like to overdo it once in a while?"

"Once in a while, she says…" Konata laughed a little, splashed Kagami with another load of water and decided to flee because she started feeling Kagami's wrath at the back of her neck. She ran out of the water, grabbed her shoes and sprinted back towards the camp.

"OI!" Kagami was not amused and instantly started following her.

Both were chasing each other all the way to the camp. Konata turned around at some point to check if Kagami was still following her and completely stopped in her tracks after confirming it. Kagami was indeed still following, but it was her appearance that stopped Konata. Her twintails had become undone in the river and her wet hair stuck to her body. The same was with her clothes, which were also clinging tightly to her body and greatly empathized her figure. Konata just stared at her and gulped heavily. Her trance only lasted for a second, though. Kagami caught up, but forgot to stop fast enough and crashed into Konata. The impact threw both into the river again. Water splashed everywhere and Kagami landed on top of Konata in the water.

"Ha! I finally got you, Kona!" She didn't care at all about what just happened.

"Y-Yeah… g-good work or something…" Kagami being on top of her now didn't help at all with the thought she had a couple seconds ago.

"What just happened?"

"O-Onee-chan! K-Kona-chan! Are you two okay?!" Miyuki and Tsukasa watched the whole scene and were greatly confused. Kagami managed to chase Konata all the way back to the camp before she finally caught her.

"Sure, we're fine, right, Kona?"

"Yep, better than fine."

"But what… how did that happen?"

"Well… Kona found a waterfall and… one thing led to another, I guess."

"Eh? Waterfall? Really? Wow… wait, that doesn't help at all, onee-chan…!" Tsukasa almost got sidetracked but managed to stay on topic.

"I wanted to get nearer to the waterfall and due to a miscalculation, I ended up taking a bath in the river." Konata took over the failed explanation.

"Makes sense… probably." Tsukasa just awkwardly scratched her head. "And how did onee-chan also ended up soaked? I mean before you two dived into the river here?"

"How you ask? I can show you how. It more or less started like that…" Just as Konata finished her sentence, Tsukasa and Miyuki saw a huge wave of water flying towards them and two seconds later, before they could even react, the two were also drenched.

"Hey, that's not nice, Kona-chan!"

"But it does feel rather nice…" Miyuki seemed to enjoy the refreshing water on a hot day.

"Oh… now that mention it… Let's join them, Yuki-chan!"

"Huh?" She had no time to say any more than that because Tsukasa had already taken her hand and was dragging her to the river. Miyuki hesitated a little, but it was futile and both also ended up in the river next to Konata and Kagami, who readily welcomed them with another splash of water.

"Wah~, it's so nice and refreshing!"

"Yes, it's really pleasant." Tsukasa and Miyuki looked like they really enjoyed the unexpected swimming session.

"I have the best ideas after all."

"Since when was that your idea?"

"Okay, fine Kagamin~, I have the best kind of accidents…"

"That's better… I guess…"

"But I never thought you would play along with this, onee-chan." Tsukasa wasn't expecting her sister to be this playful.

"Well, with Kona around… ehm… I mean she has a way with dragging me into her pace."

"Hey, was that an insult or a compliment?" Konata wasn't sure how to feel.

"What works better for you?"

"A compliment, definitely a compliment!"

"Then it's that." Kagami just gave her another cheeky little smirk.

"That's good… Oi! You're just mocking me, aren't you?" Konata was a bit slow but still became a little angry and Kagami got attacked by a load of water. The revenge didn't take long and Konata got hit by even more water. The 'fight' quickly became more and more heated up until neither Konata, nor Kagami could be seen anymore because of all the water around them. Miyuki and Tsukasa just looked at each other with a happy smile on their lips while occasionally also splashing each other with a little water, just because it felt nice.

"These two, huh?"

"Indeed."

The 'fight' continued for a couple more minutes, but the two were finally exhausted enough to stop. A little later, all four decided to get out of the water and after a change of clothes, they sat down at the campsite and talked while drying their hair.

"By the way, Kagami-san and Izumi-san, did you two find any good firewood?"

"Oh…" Kagami's face lost a little bit of color.

"Kagamin~! Kagamin~! I remembered what we forgot earlier!"

"Just shut up, okay?"

"Okay…"

Miyuki and Tsukasa couldn't help it anymore and started laughing. It didn't take long for the other two to join.

…

Some time passed and Kagami, together with Konata, made another attempt to gather firewood. They just went to the nearby forest and gathered the first pieces of wood they could find and thanks to that, both quickly gathered enough, and without any incidents on top. The fireplace was finally ready and waiting for food to be cooked on. The mere thought of food woke up someone's stomach and wanted attention.

"What Kagamin~'s stomach wants to ask… What's the dinner plan again?"

"…" Kagami wasn't sure what to say and instead, she just glared at Konata.

"We should try the fishing first. The river should haves some fishes if we haven't scared them away earlier."

"Oh, right! We're still having our contest, right, Kagamin~?"

"Of course!"

Miyuki prepared everything and the girls went to the river. They found a good looking spot and started fishing.

"Okay, Kona, first who catches three fishes, wins."

"Only three? Isn't the contest over in like five minutes then?"

"No idea…"

Half an hour passed and absolutely nothing had happened.

"Fishing sure is boring." Konata's excitement from earlier was completely gone.

"Yeah…" Kagami wasn't much different.

"Fishing normally isn't an 'action' sport and waiting for fishes to bite for an extended amount of time is normal."

"Oh, I think I got one, Yuki-chan!" Tsukasa's fishing rod suddenly started twitching at the best possible timing.

"Huh?!" Kagami and Konata couldn't believe it.

"That's great, Tsukasa-san… Oh, it looks like I also have a bite."

"W-What?!" The two know what was going on anymore.

"K-Kagamin~, we can't lose against them!"

"I thought the two of us are having a contest?"

"Sure, but do you really want to lose against them?"

"You're right… that would be bad."

Another hour passed and the two girls were in complete despair. Things weren't in Konata's and Kagami's favor at all. Neither Kagami nor Konata any fish at all. Even worse, Miyuki, on the other hand, caught three, but Tsukasa even caught a whole five fishes. She looked very happy and that hurt the pride of the two even more.

"Fishing sure is fun, right, Yuki-chan?"

"Yes, it started a bit slow, but it soon became really interesting."

"Absolutely! What about… you… two…" Tsukasa was about to ask Konata and Kagami, but while looking at their direction, she quickly became silent again.

"Yeah… sure… fishing's the best…"

"Never done anything better in my life before…" If one thing's certain, it's that Kagami and Konata are never going to fish again in their life.

"Don't be like that, onee-chan and Kona-chan…"

"I'm sorry that you two couldn't enjoy it much."

"Oh, I know! I'm sure it's because the fishes sensed your intense determination and got scared."

"That actually may be possible. Fishes can sense dangerous situations fairly well." Tsukasa and Miyuki tried their best to cheer them up again.

"We get it… Can we hurry up and grill them already?"

"Kagamin~'s right, let's slowly roast them over a hellish hot fire already!" They haven't exactly recovered yet.

"Uh… okay… What about side dishes? We have some of these portable outdoor rice cooking pods here."

"Ohhh…" Konata's mood seemed to instantly improve. "Good idea, Miyuki. Let's make some rice, Kagamin~!"

"Eh?"

"K-Kona-chan?! You don't have to kill us just because you didn't catch any fish!"

"No, no, I'm serious here! See Kagamin~, I told you knowing how to cook rice on your own is important. A rice cooker can't help you here."

"You sure are happy to get such a convenient case for an example, huh?"

"Yep." Konata can be pretty simple from time to time.

"You really want onee-chan to make rice?" Tsukasa wasn't that thrilled by the idea.

"Sure, she already did it successfully once already and I'm sure my Kagamin~ can do it again, right?"

"W-What?" Kagami became flustered by the wording for a moment but had an idea. "Sure, if my Kona says so, I'll do my best.

"H-Huh?" Konata sure wasn't expecting this and her face also became a bit red in return.

"…" The silence returned, but the two started thinking about something. _'What's with this silence… and the reaction? Her face went red… Did she just got embarrassed because of my teasing or… or could it be…?'_ The two were reading the reactions of each other and they seemed to start noticing something.

"Anyway…" Miyuki broke the silence again. "Okay, Kagami-san will make the rice, Tsukasa-san and I'll prepare the fish and Izumi-san, can you light the campfire?"

"Me starting the fire? Nice… you don't have to ask twice for that." Someone looked really excited all of a sudden.

"Oh boy…" And someone had a bad feeling.

Miyuki and Tsukasa prepared the fishes, Kagami prepared the rice and Konata almost burned the entire campsite down, but the food was soon done and the girls started eating.

"Wow… onee-chan really made rice all on her own and it even was on campfire… amazing…" Tsukasa had already heard about it from Konata, but it was still the first time she saw it with her own eyes.

"Oh please… feel free to praise me more." Kagami looked really smug.

"You're amazing, Kona-chan!" Her praise was directed to someone else, though.

"Eh?"

"I know." Konata was the smug looking one now.

"But I have to admit that self-caught fish somehow tastes better." Miyuki changed the topic before it started to escalate.

"Right?! I just thought the same!"

"Really? I think they taste just like any other store-bought fish." Konata and Kagami answered the same sentence in the same monotonous voice at the same time to Miyuki's and Tsukasa's statements.

They finished eating a little later and Konata and Kagami slowly stopped pouting and the whole fishing incident was soon forgotten.

….

"So, what now?" Konata was wondering what else Tsukasa and Miyuki had planned.

"Hmm… Oh, how about we go exploring the area bit?"

"Sounds good, sis, as long as we keep Kona away from the waterfall, that is."

"Hey, I'm not that stupid to try the same thing again!"

"Really?" Kagami just stared at her.

"Absolutely! There's no way something unexpected would happen again."

"You're pretty good at raising your own death flags, aren't you?"

"What?! K-Kagamin~… wow, I'm so proud right now that I can't even be mad."

"Shut up, I just wanted to make a clear point."

"Oh yeah, you really made a clear point there." Konata smirked at her. "Okay then, what is there to see here, Miyuki, Tsukasa?"

"Let's just wander around and see if we find something."

"Sounds like a plan. Well, not really, but let's go with that." Kagami agreed to the idea.

The girls grabbed a few things and left the camp in order to explore the area. They first went into the nearby forest and looked around.

"Oh, that's a funny looking mushroom." Tsukasa suddenly stopped and pointed at something. "Can you eat that one?"

"Sis, |Tsukasa, | Tsukasa-san, that mushroom is definitely poisonous." The other three girls answered together after looking at the red and black striped mushroom on the ground.

"Oh, okay."

"I wonder if there any bears nearby…" Konata changed the topic to something very different.

"B-Bears?!" Tsukasa instantly became nervous and started looking around.

"Don't tell me you want to fight one?"

"Huh? What are you doing in my head again, Kagamin~?"

"Eh? I was just joking… Don't even think about it!"

"Aww… but I thought about a new move." She did some karate chops in the air in order to prove herself. "I'm sure I could take on a bear with it."

"No!"

"Don't worry about it, Kagami-san, there aren't any bears in this area." Miyuki reassured her.

"Ah… that's good." She sighed in relief.

"Too bad…"

"The two calmed down and the girls continued their walk through the forest. Kagami, Tsukasa, and Miyuki were talking about something while walking in front. Konata was slowly following them, for some time at least.

"Hey Kona, what do you think about… Kona?" Kagami turned around to ask for her opinion on their discussion, but Konata was gone. "H-Huh?"

"What's wrong, onee-chan? Wait, where's Kona-chan?"

"Oh, Izumi-san's gone?" Tsukasa and Miyuki also realized that she was missing.

"Where did that stupid little idiot now disappear to? Her stealth skills are way too good."

"Should we search for Izumi-san?"

"Yeah, I'm kind of worried about Kona because I can't leave her alone… You two go back the way we came from the camp and I'll take a different route."

"Okay. See you later then, onee-chan."

Kagami walked a bit of the original route and then disappeared on another way.

"Really now, how does she not realize how obvious she is?"

"Well…" Tsukasa had no answer to this question.

"Let's go back to the camp. I'm sure Kagami-san will find her without any trouble and it's probably a good idea if the two have some alone time again."

"Yeah, those two can probably sense each other anyway."

"I can actually see that being true. Do you want to do anything once we get back to the camp, Tsukasa-san?"

"Hmm… How about we just look for something to play in our tent?"

"Good idea, something more relaxing sounds nice."

The two went back and left the whole Konata rescue mission to Kagami.

…

Kagami was still wandering through the forest. She found a little trail a while ago and decided to follow it.

"Seriously, how could she disappear on us without making a single noise? I can't even walk one step without making a sound…"

"Because I had survival training."

"No, you hadn't." She retorted to the unexpected voice without thinking.

"Okay, fine, I watched a zombie survival anime as a preparation for the camping. You can't survive an apocalypse with making so much noise, Kagamin~."

"You sure are talented when it comes to unnecessary things. Are you expecting a zombie outbreak or what? H-Huh… wait… Kona? What?" Kagami finally realized something.

"Hey there, Kagamin~."

"Don't 'hey' me, what are you doing here?" Kagami had finally found her, or rather the other way around, after she walked around a corner on the path she was following.

"I'm not doing much. I'm just sitting here on this log while being really disappointed."

"Why are you disappointed?"

"I thought I saw a cave from the path we were walking earlier, but after a closer inspection of it, it was just a small hole in the mountain…"

"I see…" Despite saying that, Kagami only shook her head. "Do you really think that's a good reason to just disappear without saying anything, though?"

"Well… probably not, right? But it's not that bad, right?" Konata knew that it wasn't the best thing to do.

"Oh no, I don't think so." Kagami sounded a bit angry. "Do you have any idea how worried I got after you were suddenly gone?!"

"I'm sorry…"

"Just don't ever do something like that again, okay?"

"Yes, I won't…" Konata felt bad and stayed silent for some time afterward.

"… Let's go back to the camp, Miyuki and Tsukasa are probably waiting for us already."

The two started walking back and chatted a little more on the way.

"But for you to get worried about me, Kagamin~…"

"What? Do you have a problem with me worrying about you?"

"No, absolutely not. If anything, it made me really happy. Thanks for worrying about me."

"Y-You're welcome…" Kagami wasn't expecting this kind of turn of events and got rather embarrassed, but even Konata herself was a bit surprised by her sudden honesty. Both looked away from each other to calm down. _'She's trying to kill me, right? Really now, is that on purpose or…'_

The good thing was that the camp was already in sight. The two arrived at the place in silence started wondering where Tsukasa and Miyuki are.

"Didn't you say they were waiting for us Kagamin~?"

"That's what I thought… Hmm? Wait, I think I heard something coming from their tent." She went closer to inspect the tent and quickly found them inside.

"Oh, welcome back, onee-chan." Tsukasa greeted her when she saw her. "Good job with finding Kona-chan."

"Well done, Kagami-san."

"Thanks… I know that I said that you two should take the way back to the camp, but aren't you taking it a bit too easy?" Kagami said after she found them relaxing in the tent.

"We had perfect faith that you would find her, onee-chan, and so we decided to play cards instead."

"You two sure an interesting duo…"

"Ehehe…"

"I wasn't exactly praising you…"

"Playing cards, huh?" Konata appeared next to Kagami at the entrance of the tent.

"Hey Kona-chan, want to join?"

"Sure, I'm in! Get inside already, Kagamin~." Konata moved behind her and pushed Kagami inside.

The two joined Tsukasa and Miyuki in their tent and started playing cards together. They played a couple rounds, but Konata or Kagami winning every round soon became boring for the other two and they tried to think of something to chat about.

"And, how are you two liking our trip idea?"

"It's nice, sis, well, except for the parts where Kona went overboard, that is."

"Hey, you didn't complain when we played in the water earlier, Kagamin~, and I already said I'm sorry for disappearing."

"Okay… fine, I'm having a lot of fun."

"Aww, an honest Kagamin~ sure is cute."

"Wha-! S-Shut up!" She took another unexpected hit. _'Okay, her way of wording things is really going to kill me.'_ She decided not to go down alone, though. "You think I'm cute?"

"Eh? H-Huh… I uhh… s-sure you are…" Konata didn't see that coming and it took some time for her to react.

"I-I see… t-thanks." Kagami made her situation only worse instead of better.

"Anytime…" And so it was for Konata.

"…"

"B-By the way, I've been wondering for a while already…" Konata decided to divert the attention away from her. "What are you two, Tsukasa and Miyuki, doing all the time when you're together?"

"Oh, great question, Kona." Kagami welcomed the attention shift. "I've been wondering about that as well."

"Hmm…" Tsukasa started thinking about it. "Nothing much, I guess… Probably the same as you two." She said so and the facial expression of two people suddenly became very complex.

 _'_ _Oh no, I really don't think you do, Tsukasa…'_ Konata really didn't believe that it's the same.

 _'_ _Sis, you perfectly well that it's not the same…'_ Kagami also strongly denied it in her mind.

"I think Tsukasa-san's probably right. We usually just spent a lot of time together, do our homework and lately, we're trying to make many different sweets. Oh, and she often accompanies me to the dentist. She really helps me to stay calm there."

"I see… that does sound similar…" Konata nodded. _'The activities do at least… Ignoring the last part, that is…'_

I wonder if the sweets and the dentist have some sort of connection with each other…"

"No way, that's just a coincidence, just a coincidence." Tsukasa just laughed it off.

"But yeah, you two also seem rather close to each other."

 _'_ _Wait, did Kagamin~ just say –also-?'_ Konata heard something interesting but had no time to think about it.

"That's true. I like Yuki-chan after all."

"…"

"…"

"… Eh?!" Not only Kagami, but Konata as well felt really lost right now and stared blankly at nothing in particular.

"Yes, I also like Tsukasa-san." Miyuki easily agreed to her statement.

"…"

"…"

"… W-What?" A couple moments passed and the two still looked completely stupefied by what they had just heard.

"W-Wait… what? You two are… huh?!"

"Yes, Yuki-chan and I are best friends by now." Tsukasa immediately destroyed all tension present in the tent.

"Ahh…" Konata and Kagami both sighed and slumped down on their place.

"What's wrong, Kona-chan and onee-chan?"

"N-Nothing's wrong, sis…" Kagami answered first. _'You know perfectly well what's wrong… Doing something like that…'_

"Y-Yeah, nothing's wrong… It just sounded a little… ambiguous right now…"

"Ambiguous? What do you mean, Kona-chan?"

"H-Huh? Eh…" Konata wasn't expecting her to question it. "Ehm… well… that's a bit complicated…"

"Hmm…" Miyuki tilted her head a little and continued. "Oh, you thought that Tsukasa-san and I are… Nono, just like she said, best friends. Not that there's anything wrong with it, but no, right, Tsukasa-san?" Miyuki passed it over to her.

"Uh… yes, there's nothing wrong with it, but no."

"I… I… see…" Konata couldn't keep up with it anymore. _'W-Wait… did they both just said that they're both okay with it… that's good, right?'_

"O-Oh, wow, it's already completely dark outside." Kagami also had a hard time and decided to change the topic. _'Miyuki's also okay with it, huh? Tsukasa's dead, though. She definitely told her about me… If they ask me now what I think… I mean… can they get any more obvious with what they're trying?'_ Not that Kagami had the right to say that. "Wait, are those fireflies out there?" She poked her head outside of the tent while saying so.

"R-Really?!" Tsukasa became really excited and instantly left the tent. "WOW! There really are fireflies… and so many of them!" The other three girls also decided to leave the tent to look at the spectacle. Dozens of fireflies had gathered at the campsite while illuminating the whole area in with a warm light. Tsukasa happily jumped around between them and tried to catch one with her bare hands.

"Tsukasa sure is energetic as usual."

"Indeed she is." Konata actually intended to say it to Kagami, but Miyuki answered before she even had the chance. "I better stop her before she hurts herself." Miyuki left and the two were alone again.

"They definitely have an interesting dynamic…"

"Like we're one to talk, Kona."

"Fair enough."

Kagami and Konata watched the two for a little while, but then decided to leave them alone and left the camp. They stopped in a little field and looked up at the sky.

"You sure can see a lot of stars when you're out in nature."

"That's true and they're so bright!" Konata let herself fall down on the grass in order to watch the starry night sky easier. "Come on, lay down with me, Kagamin~." She patted on the spot next to her on the grass.

"Hmm? Oh, sure, sounds good." Kagami changed her attention away from the sky for a second and after understanding what Konata meant, she laid down right next to her. "Oh, the grass is surprisingly comfortable."

The two looked at the stars in silence for some time. Konata was looking for some formations in the sky that she could recognize, but her knowledge in that field was rather limited.

"Hey Kagamin~, how's your level in astronomy? I haven't invested many skill points in at and so I don't recognize anything…"

"Way to ruin the atmosphere… but I guess my level is decent enough. Want me to show you a couple things?"

"That's why I asked."

"Okay, well then…" Kagami raised her arm and pointed at a particularly bright star. After Konata had found it, she started explaining the constellation of the star and the ones surrounding it. Konata nodded a few times and Kagami then pointed to the next group of stars.

"Oh, that's Deneb, Altair, and Vega, the summer triangle you pointed out, I remember that." Konata interrupted her while both were looking at the sky.

"Yes, they're also represented by the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi. Deneb is supposed to be the bridge between those two lovers so that they can meet each other once a year because the Milky Way normally separates them. According to the tale, that is."

"Oh, that's miss born-on-Tanabata for you."

"Yeah, Tanabata is more or less about their story. Orihime and Hikoboshi are only allowed to meet each other once a year on the seventh day of the seventh month. They can only meet up if it doesn't rain, though, because of the bridge, Deneb, that they need to see each other would be flooded or couldn't be built in the first place."

"That's also where those strips of paper with the wishes come from, right? Those two wished for no rain and we wish for… uhm… a lot of stuff…"

"More or less, yeah."

"Speaking of which, it's only a week away, huh? Tanabata and your birthday, that is."

"Yep, and I'm really looking forward to what you're going to pull off then. I mean after how you boasted on your birthday, it better be big." Kagami also gave her a little smirk at the same time.

"So you haven't forgotten, huh? I guess I really have to think about something good then. Even though I have absolutely no idea… but hey, I'm good at improvising…"

"Sure, if you say so."

The two focused on the stars again and Kagami resumed her explanation of the constellations in the sky. Her explanation was a bit too thorough, though. She went a bit too far with the details and as a result, Konata became a bit tired. She stretched herself a bit to fight back her fatigue. It worked brilliantly and Konata was instantly wide-awake again. Although it wasn't due to the stretching alone. After said stretching, her hand accidentally landed on Kagami's own. She wasn't expecting the sudden body contact and got really surprised by it. Konata almost, instinctively, wanted to retract her hand again, but she managed to fight back the urge.

 _'_ _You can do it!'_ She was encouraging herself. _'Leave your hand there! Kagamin~ isn't reacting and so there's nothing to fear! Just. Enjoy. The. Moment!'_

Kagami maybe wasn't reacting, but it was only her outside that stayed silent. _'W-W-What is going on here?!'_ Inside her mind, Kagami was panicking. _'W-Why is Kona holding my hand?! Eh… Wait, it looked like she was just stretching herself. Maybe it was just an accident. She probably isn't retracting her hand doesn't think anything of it… but I'm losing it here, Kona! Wait a bit, it was her who did it… I don't have to feel guilty and can just enjoy the moment.'_ Kagami readjusted herself a little, but she also moved her hand a little in the process and her fingers accidentally ended up entangled with Konata's own. Her face immediately became even redder, but thankfully, it was too dark for anyone to see it. _'O-Okay… maybe a little guilty…'_ Kagami's face wasn't the only red one.

"EHHHH?! W-What?! Why?... Why is Kagamin~ also holding my hand now?! Wait… c-could it be…? N-No, don't read too much into it, me…"

Konata continued her internal fight and Kagami hesitantly found some more constellations of stars in the sky she shared with her.

"That's all I have." Kagami concluded her little astronomy course of the stars she knew.

"'All I have' – she says… That was almost Miyuki level here." Konata had calmed down enough to hold a normal conversation again.

"Thanks, I take that as a compliment. S-Speaking of which, the two sure gave me a good scare earlier…" Kagami decided to try her luck and poked into a topic she had a great interest in, but also scared her a fair bit.

"Hmm? Oh, you mean about the whole… l-liking thing? Y-Yeah, that was quite… unexpected."

"Yes, I didn't see it coming. Good thing it was just a misunderstanding. I mean, my little sister being in a relationship before me? Nope, I can't allow that."

"I thought you don't care about the big sister / small sister stuff?"

"Well, there are some exceptions to that…"

"I see… Wait…!" Konata suddenly realized something. "T-That's the problem?!"

"What else should there be?" She just looked at Konata from the side on the grass.

"Well… they're both girls and all…" She wasn't sure what or how to say it. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to talk about in the first place.

"Hmm? What's wrong with that? There's nothing wrong with liking the person you like, no matter who it is." Kagami just repeated something she heard before. _'Thanks for the line, sis. I owe you one.'_

"Oh, t-that's pretty noble, Kagamin~." Konata tried her best to remain calm, but she still started smiling from ear to ear in the dark because he was way too happy right now. _'YES! She has nothing against it! I can't believe it! Sure, I still don't know if she's into girls, but who cares?! I just want to party right now!'_

"W-What about you, Kona?"

"Me?"

"Yes, I-I mean… I wouldn't want any of their friends to be against it if something happens between Miyuki and Tsukasa." Kagami cleverly used the misunderstanding of the two as an example.

"Me? Nah, it wouldn't be hard for me to fall for a girl myself…" Konata turned silent and white at the end of her sentence. She was still too happy from earlier and didn't realize fast enough what she had just said.

"Oh, t-that's good to know for the two…" It was Kagami's turn to show her poker face now. _'WHAT?! Wait… what?! No way…! That's… no! K-Kona's not only just okay with it… she IS actually into girls! Did my birthday and Christmas fell on the same day this year and moreover, is today Christmas?! That's way too good to be true!'_ Konata wanted to have a party, but Kagami already was having a party in her head and she decided to give her a little hint. "W-Well, it's easier to fall for cute girls after all, huh?"

"…" Konata's brain had officially given up and decided to go home.

"W-What's wrong, Kona?" Kagami got a little worried because she felt completely silent. She squeezed Konata's hand, which was still intertwined with hers a little to get a reaction.

"Eh? Uhm… n-no, everything's fine, if not better…" The squeeze brought her back to reality for a second. _'No! Freaking! Way! She did not say that just now! There's just no way that I have a chance, right? Or do I now? She did say that she… Wait… Why does that just make everything more complicated now? W-What do I do now? No, really, what? I need to think about a plan…'_ Konata was completely freaking out, but managed to remain calm on the outside.

"T-That's good…" Kagami also had a hard time holding the conversation up because her mind was too busy processing everything and her body was too preoccupied with fighting back the huge smile that continued to form on her lips.

Both fell silent and looked at the stars again. It wasn't exactly awkward like the last time the conversation died. Konata and Kagami had just found out they both are into girls, which means they actually have a chance with each other. It was too much to take in to feel awkward.

…

Some time passed and the two finally decided to go back to the camp again.

"Let's go back, Kona. We don't want to worry Miyuki and Tsukasa, right?"

"Y-Yeah… you're right." It looked like Kagami was handling the new situation better than Konata.

Konata got up first and offered Kagami a hand to help her up from the grass. Kagami gladly accepted the help and Konata lifted her up. Both were standing again and Konata wanted to let go of her hand, but it didn't work for some reason. She had loosened her grip, but Kagami was still holding Konata's hand and it didn't look like she would let it go anytime soon.

"Let's go, Kona." Kagami started walking and dragged her behind. _'Holding back is over. It looks like my chances aren't zero and I'm going to make use of that!'_ Kagami's newly found, and aggressive, resolve was strong, but Konata was still having a hard time.

 _'_ _Eh?! W-What is going on here? Why is she holding my hand?! Is she giving me a hint? Did I die? Am I dreaming? Parallel World? Trapped inside a game? Well… whatever, let's just enjoy it for now…'_ Konata gave up on being rational for the day.

Both continued their walk hand in hand back to the camp. Arriving there, they only saw a faint light in the tent of Miyuki and Tsukasa and decided not to bother them. The two went straight to their own tent.

…..

"Oh, they're back, Tsukasa-san."

"Well, took them long enough. The two were gone for like two hours or so. Wait… Are they holding hands?!" Miyuki and Tsukasa were watching the return of Konata and Kagami from their tent.

"Yes, it does look like it. I wonder what happened while there were gone…"

"Uhh… I want to know!" Tsukasa got rather excited.

"Calm down, we should leave them alone and don't destroy the mood."

"You're right, Yuki-chan…" She looked a bit dejected but knew it was the best thing to do.

The two closed their tent again and resumed the chat the two were having before they came back.

…

Konata and Kagami went inside their tent and the next trial was already awaiting them.

"Oh… right… the sleeping bag. I totally forgot about that…"

"What do we do, Kagamin~?"

"Hmm? Well, we just have to work with what we have, right?"

"I-I guess so…" Konata really wasn't as good as Kagami with adapting to the new situation, but not having a choice helped and both got into the sleeping bag.

"Wow, it's supposed to be for two people, but it's sure tight in it."

"T-That's true…"

"It's probably for not to waste any warmth in the night while sleeping."

The two barely even fitted in the sleeping bag and any excess space was nowhere to be found. Kagami didn't mind it one bit, or rather, she readily welcomed it. Konata also had nothing against it, but the whole day was just too much for her, especially the last few hours.

"W-Well… let's try to get a bit of sleep." Konata wanted to end the day and start with fresh vigor into a new one. She needs to think of a plan to get Kagami, but she wasn't in the shape to think of it today.

"Yeah, I also am quite tired. Good night, Kona."

"Good night."

Both got as comfortable as possible in the tent and tried to sleep. Konata had no problems with it, but Kagami had a hard time to fall asleep.

"Are you still awake, Kona?" She asked after she got bored, but she got no response. ' _I thought so… What a day… I guess I have to thank Tsukasa for it. I probably wouldn't have found out that I have a chance without the camping. I'm sure that was her goal in the first place. Too bad I have to kill her afterward because she told Miyuki about me…'_ She was happy and angry at the same time, but looking at Konata sleeping next to her calmed her down instantly again. _'I want to hug her! I sooo want to hug her!'_ Kagami's thoughts immediately changed into action when she wrapped her arms around Konata's waist and pulled her close to her own body.

"Such bliss~." Kagami let out a happy sound and hugged her even tighter. The need of a sleeping bag for two people, no matter its actual size, was completely gone. _'I want to do this every night… I want her to be mine and mine alone… But how can I accomplish it? I need to think of something… but first, I need some sleep.'_ She gently squeezed Konata a last time and let out a little yawn. "Works every time…" It didn't take long for Kagami to fall asleep afterward.

….

The next morning started early for Konata. It was still dark outside, but she just woke up and the reason for it was right next to her. Kagami had a little… violent sleep. One of her arms was still wrapped around Konata's waist, but her other arm had just hit Konata's chin hard enough to wake her up.

"What was that for, Kagamin~?" She pouted a little, but got no answer "Well, what was I expecting in the first place? More importantly… I need something to drink. Good thing she isn't holding me so tight anymore. I think I can free myself now." Konata wriggled herself around a little and managed to get away from Kagami's grip. She left the tent, grabbed a drink out of a portable cooling box and sat down at the fireplace. The fire was out for some time already, but it started to dawn and so there was a little light present for Konata to take a look around. "Tsukasa and Miyuki sure did a great job here. Most of the stuff, including the cooling box, was already here… They definitely had a lot of work with preparing everything. I can't help the feeling that the two had a goal in mind, though… Do they really want to bring me and Kagamin~ together? But why? Am I really that obvious or what? Wait… does Tsukasa know anything? Did Kagamin~ tell her anything?" The answer was yes to anything. "A girl can dream, right? Anyway, just thinking about it doesn't help at all. I need to think of something good. I need a plan… A good plan, but what can I do? I just found out that I have a chance, but… Kagamin~'s birthday is in a week and I have the feeling that that's the key to victory, but how? She said that she's interested in a necklace… but even she can't find one she likes… How am I supposed to find one then? That means I need something else and moreover, the impact is lacking quite a bit anyway. I need to find something that wants her make to jump at me… Just what should I do?! Hmm… OH!" Konata suddenly turned silent and started thinking about something very hard. It took her some time, but it looked like she thought of something good because her face loosened up a little again. Just in this very moment, she felt something on her shoulders and looked up.

Kagami had woken up and appeared behind Konata while she was thinking about something. She put her hands on Konata's shoulders and peeked over her head. After Konata looked up, their eyes met for the first time this day.

"Good morning, Kona."

"Oh, good morning, Kagamin~." The sleep, the monolog she had just now and the idea afterward helped Konata to find inner peace and she was easily able to remain calm while having a conversation and/or having body contact with Kagami.

"Why are you already up?"

"Ha, because a certain someone woke me up by hitting her arm against my chin…"

"R-Really? I'm sorry… Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I also was thirsty and so I got up."

"Ohm you have something to drink? Can I have some?" Kagami also got thirsty after waking up.

"Sure, here you go." Konata gave her the bottle of tea she grabbed earlier and Kagami took a sip out of it without thinking. _'Oh… calm down, me… That was just an indirect kiss, nothing important and pretty sure not the first we had… I can't let that bother me if I want Kagamin~ to become mine.'_

 _'_ _An indirect kiss, huh? Well…'_ Kagami didn't think much about it and gave the bottle back to Konata. "So, what were you doing here all alone?"

"Hmm… just thinking about things…"

"What things?"

"That's a secret~."

"I see…"

"Miyuki and Tsukasa sure had a great idea, right, Kagamin~?"

"That's true, it really was a fun event."

"Although I still wonder how they came up with the idea… or why."

"G-Good question, Kona. I have no idea…" Kagami actually had one, but saying that was out of the question.

"Hmm… well, whatever."

"Yeah… Oh, look, the sun has started rising."

"You're right. Wow, the sunrise on a mountain sure has a different vibe."

"Yeah, it somehow looks bigger…"

Kagami sat down right next to Konata and both watched the sunrise in silence together. At least until the sun became too bright to look at.

"Oh, how about we pay Miyuki and Tsukasa back a little, Kagamin~? To thank them for the trip?"

"Great idea. What do you want to do?"

"Let's make some breakfast for everyone before they wake up. I saw some eggs in the cooling box and we also have bread. A bit simple, but still good."

"Sound's nice, let's do that."

"Okay, you prepare the eggs, Kagamin~, and I get the fire running again."

"Why do I have to cook?"

"Training… and I want to play with the fire again…"

"Oi Kona, your real intention is leaking out."

"Oh…"

Kagami let out a little chuckle and both proceeded as planned. The fire was on again and the scrambled eggs were ready to be cooked. It didn't take long for the smell to reach the tents and Tsukasa, together with Miyuki, came out of their tent.

"Good morning, Kona-chan and onee-chan."

"Morning."

"Good morning you two."

"What are you two doing?" Tsukasa noticed that Konata and Kagami were cooking something the fire.

"We're making breakfast for you two."

"Why?"

"To thank you and Miyuki a little for the trip, sis."

"We really had a lot of fun, thanks."

"Aww, you're welcome."

"Thank you very much for the praise, Kagami-san, Izumi-san. We also had a lot of fun, right, Tsukasa-san?"

"Yes, it was great!"

The girls ate their breakfast and started chatting about the last day and what they had experienced. All really had a lot of fun and were glad they came. Miyuki and Tsukasa were edging to ask what happened last night, but they didn't want to make things awkward at the very end. They decided to postpone the interrogation to a later date and just enjoyed the last bit of their camping trip.

After the breakfast was over, the four girls started packing and tidying up the campsite.

"Don't worry about all the stuff here. My father will come later with his car and pick up everything we left behind. The best would be to only take your personal things leave everything camping related here." Miyuki explained the details and with that, the camping was over.

….

Konata arrived at home and directly decided to look if her plan she thought of earlier can work.

"Hey dad, I'm back."

"Hey Konata, welcome back. How was the camping?" After hearing her voice, Sojiro suddenly appeared out of the living room.

"It was great! Oh, working in the living room now?"

"Yeah, I couldn't see the walls of my room anymore. I was slowly getting crazy in there…"

"Even more? Good thing you changed places…"

"Dad's hurt…"

"How is it coming along?"

"Good, very good. I only have the last chapter and the epilog left to write."

"Uh, nice! Does that mean you can spare a little time?"

"Sure, what do you want, Konata?"

"I'm looking for something… can you help me search?"

"Of course. What are you looking for?"

"Well…" Konata explained what she wanted to find. Sojiro looked rather confused, but still helped her.

"Okay… I think I know where it is."

"Really? Great! Thanks, dad."

The two went upstairs and after a little bit of searching, they found what Konata was looking for and she went back to her room.

"Great, one part of my plan might actually work now. Too bad it's the easy part of my idea…"

It looked like Konata's plan for Kagami's birthday was coming along and while she was planning all the details, the week progressed a little and the birthday of the twins was only a few days away.

* * *

.

I finished a few days earlier than expected. Probably not a bad thing, I guess...

It's funny how a chapter that was supposed to be a 5k 'filler' chapter ended up being a 12k with quite a lot of progress. That's what happens if I run out of ideas... xD

Aggressive Kagami is also a great Kagami.

The chapter was a little all over the place because I had no idea what do with in the beginning, but I ended up liking it quite a bit.

The next chapter should be like teased about the birthday of the twins, although I'm not 100% if I'm not going to make another event in between. If it's going to be about the birthday, the chapter will take quite long to be released because then it's going to be a complex chapter…

If someone's interested in statistics, this story just went over 6000 views yesterday. Not really much, but for the advanced age of Lucky Star, it's quite decent, I guess.


	21. The question of who the cat is

The surprise camping trip ended a few days ago and Konata was working on her plan ever since she came back home. She was making relatively good progress with it, but soon ran into a different problem. It was Wednesday, school had just ended and Konata stopped her favorite tsundere on the way home.

"Hey Kagamin~, I need a little help with something."

"Hmm? What is it?"

"Did you know that your birthday is on Saturday?"

"Yes… I was actually aware of that, but thanks for reminding me, Kona…"

"But did you also know that it's Tsukasa's birthday as well?"

"She's my twin sister… I wasn't so sure, but now that you mention it… her birthday is on the same day as mine… weird…"

"Wow, your sarcasm sure became good, Kagamin~."

"Thanks. So, what do you want?"

"You see… I actually kind of forgot about Tsukasa and I have no idea what I should get for her…"

"I know that you're a little forgetful, Kona, but that's… even for you…"

"I was feeling bad enough about it already, but it's also your fault a little."

"Really now?" Kagami just doubtfully looked at her.

"Really! I've been so distracted with the preparations for your present lately that I forgot about everything else."

"Is that so? Wait… Preparations? W-What are you doing, Kona? Should I be worried? Scared?"

"Hmm… Maybe? Maybe not? I don't know."

"I take that as a yes." She had a really bad feeling about this.

"W-Well, you're probably going to be surprised, but then, the plan isn't finished yet, sooo..."

"Yep, scared it is."

"Anyway, getting back to the topic… Do you have an idea on what I could get for Tsukasa?"

"Hmm…" Kagami started thinking about it. "Oh, I actually do remember something she wanted."

"Seriously?! That's great!"

"Yeah, but we'd need to go to Akiba for that…"

"What? That makes it even better. Wait, we?"

"Oh, you want to go alone?"

"So, what is it that Tsukasa wants?" Konata completely ignored her and the idea of going alone.

"It was some kind of cookbook about sweets from animes or something like that…"

"Hmm… Tsukasa gets to make some new sweets and I get to eat more, huh? Sound's good, she's getting that."

"Sure…"

The two finished their conversation and went to the station in order to take the train to Akiba. They arrived there a little while later and went straight to Konata's usual store where Kagami and Tsukasa found the book last time when she was looking for Konata's birthday present.

"Ah, there's the book, Kona." She pointed at a shelf of books at the side of the store.

"Great! Now that I've taken care of Tsukasa's present, I can focus on the plan for yours again."

"I know that I already said I'm scared, but my curiosity is kind of winning right now."

"Curiosity kills the cat, Kagamin~."

"So, I'm a cat now?"

"… Oh, I like the idea of that." Konata made a little joke and Kagami became silent for a couple seconds, but then something unexpected happened.

"Meow." Kagami decided to play along and promptly got rewarded with something good.

"…" Konata fell completely silent and just stared with her mouth open at her. She obviously wasn't expecting this was really surprised and startled. In a good way, though, but she still started blushing because what she just witnessed was too cute in her eyes. Kagami did not only made the sound of a cat, she also formed one of her hands into a paw and imitated a cat-like motion with it.

"O-Okay, I admit… that was a bit much." Kagami got embarrassed from herself. She did it without much thinking to give Konata a little service, but the aftermath hit her with full force when she realized what she just did.

"D-Don't worry, it was… nice, but good thins this area of the store is empty… I wouldn't want anyone else to see my Kagamin~ acting like that."

"Y-Yeah, I wouldn't want to show it to anyone else either…"

"…"

"…" Both got a little too aggressive and needed a minute or two to cool down again.

"I… I wonder if there's anything else we can do, now that we're here already."

"I don't think there's much we both like here, Kona."

"Hmm… OH!" Konata's mischievous smile looked very alarming to Kagami.

"I have a bad feeling about this…"

"Don't worry, Kagamin~, it'll be… yeah…" Konata guided her to another corner of the store and gestured at something 'special'.

"No."

"Don't be like that, Kagamin~."

"B-But…"

"Pleeeeaaaaseeee…" Konata was basically begging and it looked like it was working.

"Do you really want it that badly?"

"YES! I would do everything if you agree!"

"E-Everything?" And she got interested.

"Uh… well, within certain limits, I guess…" Konata wasn't sure how to interpret Kagami's reaction.

"Hmm…"

"Wait, you're actually thinking about it?!"

"O-Okay, but I have a couple demands!"

"Huh? Sure… everything…"

"First…" Kagami went behind Konata and pushed her out of the _cosplay_ area the two were in until now and went to the checkout. "Pay for the book."

"Eh?" Konata didn't understand what was going on, but she did as told.

"Okay then. Now, get out."

"Ehh…" She got only more confused, but she had no time to ask for details because Kagami was already pushing her again and both soon were outside of the store.

"You wait here!"

"Ehhhh….?!"

"I'm going to decide what I wear and not you, Kona." Kagami turned around and entered the store again.

"W-Wait… What?" Konata couldn't follow anymore and wanted details, but she was alone already. "What just happened?" She just looked like an abandoned dog that was left to wait in front of a supermarket.

…..

20 painfully long minutes of waiting passed and Kagami finally left the store again. It looked like the task of choosing a fitting cosplay took a great toll on her. She looked really exhausted and for some reason, her face was bright red.

"Welcome ba- eh? W-What happened, Kagamin~?"

"I don't want to talk about it now…"

"I thought you wanted to choose it on your own in order to get a less embarrassing cosplay… Looks like I was wrong…"

"Shut up! Something happened, okay?"

"Huh? What happened?"

"T-That's not important… Just bear in mind that my payback will be grand and your idea for my birthday better be good." It seemed like Kagami really took a lot of damage in the 20 minutes inside the store while choosing an outfit.

"O-Okay… I'll do my best…" Konata still didn't know what was going on, but she had no other choice except to play along anyway.

"You better do."

"Well then, let me have a look at…" She was about to grab the bag Kagami was holding, but she had no intention of handing it over to her and quickly turned away.

"Nope, that's a secret. You're going to see it once I come over again."

"Eh… I feel kind of cheated right now…"

"Deal with it."

"I guess I have no choice…" Konata had to accept it in the end. "Hmm… today is no good because it's too late already… not enough time to enjoy it. Saturday's also no good. It's your birthday and I'm also busy for some time… because of… reasons... Sunday is the party with everyone. I guess that's not a good idea, right?" She obviously got no response besides a glare. "Oh, how about Friday?"

"No, Friday doesn't work. I have something to do with Tsukasa there… What about tomorrow?"

"Thursday, huh? That's actually perfect. My dad's not home tomorrow because he has a meeting with his editor."

"Oh, yeah, I really wouldn't want him to see _that…_ " Kagami's face turned red by just thinking about the cosplay again.

"'That'? What exactly is 'that'? You can't tease me like that, Kagamin~!"

"That's already part of my reward."

"Oi!"

"W-Well then…" Her voice cracked a little because she was chuckling at Konata's reaction too much. "Tomorrow it is then. I guess I'll come over after school."

"Oh man, I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight…" Konata was already looking forward to it and became really excited.

"You'll manage."

….

Thursday arrived and it was time. School had already ended and Konata was eagerly waiting in her room for Kagami to arrive.

"I can't wait anymore Hurry up and come already, Kagamin~!" Konata's excited since yesterday never died down, if anything, it only got worse, and she got what she wanted a couple minutes later.

"H-Hey there, Kona." Kagami finally arrived and entered her room. She was already plenty nervous, even though she still had her normal clothes on.

"Yay, Kagamin~ has arrived!"

"Y-Yes…"

"Why are you still in your normal clothes? Hurry up and change!"

"Aren't you a little too excited, Kona?"

"No way, that's just the beginning of my excitement."

"Wow…" The second thoughts Kagami had ever since yesterday, only increased again, but there was no turning back now. "Your father really is gone, right?"

"Yep, it's only me and you for the whole day."

"O-Okay…" Konata's wording didn't help with her nervousness at all. "It'll probably take some time for me to get ready. You'll stay here in your room and don't even think about leaving before I come back! Do you understand?"

"Roger!" She gave her a little salute and Kagami left the room. She went somewhere to change and get ready.

…

An unbearably long time passed and Konata started thinking that Kagami had already fled out of the house. She really wanted to take a look outside, but the risks were too high after the warning she received earlier.

"Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!" Konata was becoming impatient and decided to read a manga in order to pass time and fight back the urge to leave the room after all. She grabbed a random one out of her shelf and was about to sit down on her bed again, but just at the exact moment, the door opened. Konata looked at Kagami and the manga she was holding until just now, fell out of her hand and hit the floor, together with her chin.

"D-Do you want some tea, m-master?" Kagami was holding a tablet with two cups of tea and some snacks while asking, but because of her strong embarrassment, the question had a few stutters in it.

"…" Nothing. Konata just stared at her for a whole minute. She looked like she wanted to say something, but there was just no way she could say just one single word and no one could ever blame her for it. She rubbed her eyes with her palms and resumed her staring after she confirmed that it wasn't a dream. The tea obviously wasn't the cause for her to be this shocked. Kagami stood in front of her and was wearing a completely black and white maid dress.

Long, thigh-high black stocking with white lace at the end, adorned her slender legs and the wide and fluffy black skirt, which also had a lace finish, matched it perfectly. On top of the skirt was a small, white apron that was tied together with a big ribbon on her back. The top of Kagami's outfit also matched the skirt and stockings. It was mainly black as well, but the chest area was emphasized by a white and frilly piece of fabric, combined with a slightly see-through lace right beneath her collarbone. It was just enough to fire up one's imagination, though, because everything that should be hidden, also was hidden. The pair of fitting, white gloves that reached all the way over her elbows and a few ribbons here and there made the picture perfect. Looking at her head, however, was a bit confusing, though. On one hand, Kagami was wearing a traditional, white hair-band, but on the other hand, there were also some cat ears sticking out right behind it. The last noteworthy detail was her hair, Kagami had once more changed her twintails into a single ponytail, which got held together by a rather big, white ribbon.

"K-Kona?" She became a little worried because Konata hadn't said a single word ever since Kagami entered the room a couple minutes ago.

"…" It also didn't look like she's going to say anything anytime soon. Konata was still only staring at her with an open mouth. She occasionally slapped her cheeks or shook her head a few times, but there was absolutely no spoken response. Konata often got rendered speechless by Kagami before, but the situation now was a completely different one and had completely broken her.

"C-Can you please say something? D-Do you have any idea how embarrassing this is?" Even though her clothes were completely black and white, her face was glowing in a deep red color and got even redder with each passing minute in silence.

"… I… I…" nope, still nobody home. Konata couldn't even decide where to look because she was too scared to miss a detail.

"H-Hey, K-Kona…"

Another few minutes passed and it started to look like Konata was regaining her consciousness a little again. She slapped her cheek once more, shook her head a last time and looked Kagami directly in the eyes.

"What?!" She could talk again, but it didn't help Kagami at all.

"Eh?"

"S-Sorry, Kagamin~, I… I… just don't have any words… I need to invent a couple new ones to describe the situation…"

"Huh? W-Why?"

"What would you say if there's a greater goddess right in front of you?" Konata looked absolutely serious and Kagamis became just more embarrassed.

"G-Goddess?"

"No, no that I think about it… that's not nearly enough…"

"I-I think the first comparison was already way too much."

"Nononononono. No!" Konata strongly denied it with all her might. "Do you have just the slightest how good you look, Kagamin~?" She was way too overexcited right now and didn't even try to watch her words.

"R-Really?"

"Absolutely! So good that it's already dangerous for me…"

"Dangerous?"

"H-Huh? D-Did I say that out loud?" All color instantly left her face. "Ehm… I… No, don't mind that and please just ignore that… Please."

"Uh… okay…" Kagami looked a bit confused, but didn't question her any further. At least audible. _'Dangerous? What does she mean? W-What kind of dangerous?!'_

"By the way…" Konata wanted to change the topic quickly for her own safety. _'I need to calm down or else things will escalate really quickly here… Kagamin's dangerous…'_ Both sat down on the bed and took a deep breath. "What's up with the cat ears?"

"Hmm? Oh, those…" Kagami put a hand on her head to confirm. "W-Well… that's a rather embarrassing story…"

"My favorite. Besides, as if your face could get even redder."

"…" She just sighed. "Remember the cat discussion we had in the store yesterday?"

"Of course I do."

"Looks like someone heard us…"

"W-What?"

"A friend of yours, a certain female clerk of the store heard us and thought it was a good idea to give me those ears as a gift together with the cosplay…"

"I… I see… she sure is suicidal…" Tsundere rage didn't happen lately, but it still was something to fear. "Anything else she did or say?"

"H-Huh?" N-No… no… she didn't…" Kagami's reaction was a bit doubtful. _'There's no way that I could tell her that the clerk asked me if I'm Kona's girlfriend or how she grinned like an idiot after she looked at my face when I denied it…'_ The clerk really is a bit suicidal.

"O-Okay…" Konata realized something was off, but didn't feel like saying anything more.

"But I think the cat discussion was fundamentally wrong…"

"What do you mean with that, Kagamin~?"

"I think you would be the better cat out of the two of us." Kagami said so, removed the cat-ear headband from her head and placed it on Konata's.

"Eh?" She was a bit confused.

"Yep, looks better." Kagami looked really happy with Konata wearing them now.

"Nonono, cat girl maids are textbook examples for moe." The cat-ears wandered back to Kagami's head.

"But cats are small and cute." And back to Konata's head. _'W-Wait, what did I say just now?'_

"H-Huh?" Konata though she misheard something. _'Did she say what I think she said just now?! Wait while camping… Kagamin~ said it's easy to fall for cute girls and now she… d-does that mean… WAHHH! My head's starting to hurt…'_

"A-And if I remember right, you like cats, don't you?" Kagami desperately wanted to divert the attention away from her and remembered the zoo visit in Yokohama where Konata basically wanted to bring all feline creatures home with her

"Yes, I do like cats…" Konata admitted her love for cats and did something bold at the same time. While she said it, she placed the cat ears again on Kagami's head. _'AHHH! I'm dead! I'm sooo dead! It's over! Everything's over!'_

"Hmm…" Kagami needed a second to buffer. _'What? W-What? WHAT?! WHAAAT?! No… Did she just… Eh… Wait… Did she? Did she not? Uh… I'm confused! She said she likes cats and put the ears back on my head… Doesn't that mean…? What does that mean?! Is she trying to tell me something? Is she not? WAHHH! My head's starting to hurt…'_ And now there were two girls who were completely losing it.

"I-I mean it's easier to look at this way. It wouldn't make any sense for me to wear them myself when I like cats… I can't even see them on my head…" Konata hastily tried to make something up.

"I see…" She wasn't sure what to say. _'Eh? Is that it? Is she trying to cover? Is she just stupid? What is it?! That doesn't help at all, Kona!'_ Kagami's mind was in utter despair.

"I mean, what else could I mean, Kagamin~?" Konata took another dangerous gamble and wanted to try her luck by pushing her a bit.

"W-Well…" Kagami could instantly list several things she wanted to hear from her, but saying just one of them was too difficult for her. "A-Anyway…" She decided not to say anything, instead, the ownership of the cat-ears once more changed to Konata. "Be a good girl and keep them up now."

"That's a dog… Too bad cats don't listen to anyone." And they were back on Kagami's head, but Konata soon realized her stupid mistake.

"You just admitted that you're a cat, Kona… Leave the ears on your head already!"

"I did not!"

"Yes, you did."

"I'm not a cat, Kagamin~!"

"Yes, you are."

"No, _you_ are."

"Kona, I'm not."

"Of course you are!"

"You definitely fit the image of a cure, but stoic cat way better."

"No, that's you!"

The cat-ears changed the head they were sitting on with every exchange of words. Their 'fight', if you can even call it something like that, was going nowhere, but Kagami had a plan to end this farce. A really, really dirty trick, but it was the only thing she could do right now and her dignity didn't matter today, it's too late for that anyway. She stood up from the bed, went in front of Konata and lifted her skirt just a little bit while slightly bowing at the same time.

"I prepared them just for you, so please wear them, master." Kagami's plea, her wording, together with the bowing while wearing the maid outfit was too much. Konata hadn't even noticed that she was wearing the cat ears again. Kagami definitely found another one of her weak spots. It took Konata some moments before she could respond again.

"W-What?" At least partially respond, that is.

"Yes~, it absolutely looks the cutest on you, after all, master." She knew it worked more than just good on Konata and Kagami was ready to exploit it to the maximum.

"I… I… Wait!" Unfortunately, for Kagami, Konata seemed to have found a something. "I'm your master, right? Well then, I, the master, order you, the maid, to wear the cat ears." She looked really smug after finding the weakness in Kagami's plan.

"Ehh… B-But…" Kagami, on the other hand, wasn't happy at all that she found a way out so fast.

It didn't stop the two, though. Both refused to admit defeat at this point. The dispute only got more and more fired up as time passed. The cat-ears didn't know what was going on anymore and soon even got ignored altogether. Without realizing it, Konata and Kagami were only arguing about who of the two is the cuter one and nothing else. Giving up still wasn't an option and it started to get physical. Kagami, still in front of Konata, pushed her a little and she landed with her back on the bed behind her. Kagami quickly followed and trapped Konata between the bed and herself. She thought for a second that she was having the upper hand in whatever the two were doing right now, but that bit of overconfidence was fatal because Konata was far from giving up. She pushed her to the side and before Kagami could even realize it, the position of them changed and Konata was on top now. Kagami liked that as much as Konata did before, which means not even in the slightest. She got a little more violent and soon was the dominant one again. Konata obviously wasn't any different and it ended up in an endless loop once more. The bed wasn't able to handle the two anymore and they ran out of spaced

-Thud- Konata and Kagami both landed hard on the floor. Konata was the first and Kagami ended up flat on top of her.

A few moments passed and Kagami finally used her arms to push herself up a little and thanks to that, Konata got a good view of the girl above her and couldn't stop her face from starting to blush. The maid cosplay had become partially undone and overall was a complete mess. She gulped heavily and wasn't sure where to look without feeling guilty, more than she already was, that is. Kagami's situation wasn't much different. Beneath her, trapped between her arms she was using to push her away from the ground, laid a completely defenseless girl. Konata's clothes also became really messy during their playful fight and her long, blue hair covered the complete floor around her. Many thoughts were flying through Kagami's head and none of them were rational. She looked up and down on Konata one last time and then stared right into her eyes. Konata wasn't sure what was going on and so she simply did the same.

 _'Whatever… I don't care anymore…'_ Something inside Kagami snapped and her reasoning disappeared into nowhere. All the thoughts about losing someone important, or being scared by something, didn't matter to her anymore right now. The last few days, or even weeks, were a heavy burden on her and Kagami had enough. She already felt like going insane and wanted to end it already.

 _'H-Huh? What is going on here?'_ Konata realized the complex look on Kagami's face and was more than just a little confused. This feeling soon vanished, though, because of what happened next.

 _'W-Well then, here goes nothing…'_ Kagami closed her eyes and slowly began to lower her head.

 _'W-W-Wait…!'_ Konata, still lying right beneath her on the floor, wasn't _–that-_ dense and even she realized what was about to happen. _'W-What?! N-No way! K-Kagamin~ actually… WHAT?! Eh… W-What do I do now? I-I wasn't expecting this… How could I? Ehm… uh…'_ She may know what was going on, but she still started panicking for obvious reasons.

Konata gave up on thinking any further and just decided to let it happen. She also closed her eyes and waited.

And then-

"Hey, Konata! The meeting ended earlier, want to grab something to eat somewhere?" A loud voice of a man echoed from downstairs to Konata's room and everything was over before it even happened. Both girls got so startled that they fell out of their trance and instead of finishing what Kagami started, their foreheads hit each other due to the shock. Kagami rolled to the side and freed Konata beneath her. Konata instantly dashed out of her room and downstairs to her father. Kagami needed a minute to realize what she just did, or rather was about to do.

"Oh no… W-What have I done…?" She fell silent again and stared at nothing in particular.

A bright red Konata had reached her father in the meanwhile and hindered him from coming upstairs.

"Hey, dad! Hey, dad. Hey, dad… Hey… Dad…" Her excitement died down and all adrenaline had left her instantly. Her facial expression also changed more into despair than everything else.

"What's wrong?" Sojiro saw her red face and the messy clothes. "Don't tell me you caught a cold?"

"No… I'm fine… Absolutely perfect… Never been better actually… haha…" No, she really wasn't fine, but then, it wasn't a cold she had. Although, she probably would've preferred a cold or even a broken arm.

"If you're not sick, what else…" He suddenly looked very serious. "D-Don't tell me you're not alone up there?!"

"N-No, of c-course not…"

"I'm going up now!" he wasn't buying it.

"Wait!" Konata desperately tried to stop him, but there was no need anyway. Sojiro was about to reach the stairs when he saw someone literally flying down from there.

"O-Oh, hello Kagami-" He wanted to greet her, but she just ran past him with a face even redder than Konata's and left the house without saying a single word. "H-Huh?"

"Great…" Konata looked even worse than before. "I should've thrown a poke ball when I had the chance to…" She tried to make a little joke to cheer herself up, but it didn't help at all.

"Eh? Did something happen?" The whole situation was above his comprehension and confused him a little.

"I'm going to bed…" Konata didn't care anymore.

"But it's not even seven…"

"I'm tired…"

"What about food?"

"…" She wasn't listening to him anymore and made her way upstairs. _'Right out of a manga, huh… I think I have to kill the editor of my dad… Great… What now? Like I can face Kagamin~ ever again… Oh… Her birthday… That's going to be awkward… HER BIRTHDAY! That's bad! What about my plan? No… I have to change everything now… right? Uhm… Not that I care about that right now because… AAAHHHH!'_ She finally lost it.

"Hmm…" Sojiro still stood in the hallway.

"AAAHHHHHHHH!" He suddenly heard a loud scream. No, there were two of them. One originated from somewhere upstairs and the other one sounded like it came from right in front of the house. It soon became silent again and Sojiro just scratched his head.

"She better uses a master ball, though. It was a rare Kagami after all… Wait, why was she wearing cat-ears in the first place? Dad's confused…" Kagami had changed into her normal clothes before leaving, but it looked like she forgot a little detail. Sojiro was too scared to confront his daughter today, though, and went back to his work.

The day in the Izumi household ended just like that, but in contrary to her earlier statement, Konata didn't sleep even for a single second.

* * *

.

Well… I hope you like cliffhangers…

I actually didn't plan to release the chapter like this. It was supposed to be just the beginning of a chapter, but then someone sent me a message and spoilt something I wanted to use later on in the story. I got a little angry and the idea of a teaser chapter came to my mind. Well, it more ended up in a normal chapter with some sort of cliffhanger, but… whatever. If you don't like the end, feel free to send your thanks to - Dawn101seeker-, he was the trigger of it, because I had fun with the chapter. :-)

It actually works quite well with what I planned for in the next chapter and so I'm not that angry about it anymore. Let's call this chapter a build up to what will happen in the next one.

Kagami's so cute that it should be illegal…

Anyway, next chapter… I don't know when, but I'm fairly sure it's not happening in October. I actually don't even know where this one here came from so quickly.


	22. Tanabata

Kagami's visit at Konata's place ended abruptly and even more, it really made an unexpected turn at the end. At least unexpected in terms of actually trying it. She was on her way home right now after she fled from there earlier because she panicked after Konata's father arrived. She had just arrived home, opened the door and went straight to her room upstairs. While doing so, she passed a person, but didn't care about it and went past without saying a word. The person in question did care about it, though. Tsukasa let out a long sigh and quietly followed her. She knocked after arriving at the door in front Kagami's room, knocked a few times and entered a while later after getting, as expected, no answer.

"Hey, onee-chan…?" Tsukasa looked at her sister who was hiding under the blanket on her bed and felt like having a déjà vu.

"Hey… AH!" Kagami lifted her head a little from under the blanket to greet her, but as soon as she saw her, she decided to hide again.

"Those are so cute!" Tsukasa had found the cat ears she accidentally brought home and immediately placed them on her head.

"MMfffMffmn…" Kagami yelled something beneath the blanket. She was embarrassed for various reasons right now. The whole incident in Konata's house was one thing, but the fact that she had worn them outside for some time before realizing she had them still on also didn't help.

"Onee-chan?" She was oblivious to the situation and so she had no idea she was making it just way worse.

"C-Can you please take them off, sis?" Looking at them was almost painful.

"Hmm? Okay, sure, but why?"

"T-That's a bit… complicated…"

"Why do you even have them in the first place?"

"That's even more complicated…"

"So, what happened?" She decided to give up on the cat ears and went straight to the point. Well, the cat ears are the point, but Tsukasa doesn't know that.

"W-Well, that's the most complicated thing out of everything."

"Oh, that sounds interesting. And?

"Do… Do I really need to talk about it?"

"Yes. It's obvious that something happened and you really don't want to make the same mistake as last time again, right, onee-chan?"

"No… But it's really not like last time… I'm not scared or confused or something like that…"

"Oh, what else is it then?"

"I'm just frustrated, terribly frustrated…"

"H-Huh?" Tsukasa wasn't expecting an answer like that and didn't understand what she meant.

"I… I almost k-kissed Kona earlier…"

"O-Oh, uhm… oh." She had no idea how to react right now and went with the first thing she thought. "B-But isn't that a good thing?"

"Erm, no? Why would it be? I said 'almost'…"

"O-Okay… what happened and how?"

"H-How is not important… Let's just say stuff happened and one thing led to another…" Kagami tells her sister a lot, but her cosplaying for Konata to win her affection was not something she planned to share with her.

"And then?"

"… Her father came back home earlier than expected and almost walked onto us…"

"Ehh?! Wait… r-really?"

"Yeah…"

"What did you two then do?"

"Kona fled out of the room to her dad and I… I panicked and here I am talking with you now…"

"W-Well, c-could be worse… I guess…" Tsukasa tried to cheer her up, but she wasn't really good at it because, mainly, she wasn't even believing it herself. "What now?"

"That's a rather good question… I don't think I can even face her right now…"

"Do you really think that's the right thing to do now, onee-chan?"

"No, absolutely not… Especially because I don't think I'll last much longer than one or two weeks before going completely insane."

"That sounds a lot better! The fighting spirit, that is… So, we now just have to find something to solve it, right?"

"'Just' is a little…"

"Don't mind the small details, onee-chan. Starting next week, we'll find a way for the two of you!"

"That would be nice…"

The two continued their chat for some time while trying to think of something good and so the Thursday in the Hiiragi house also came to an end soon enough.

….

Friday at school. Lunch break was currently ongoing and Miyuki looked a little dissatisfied, to say the least.

"Hey, Tsukasa-san, do you know if something happened?" While asking, she was looking at Konata, who was lost in thoughts and the empty seat of Kagami, who hadn't even shown up for lunch.

"W-Well…" She did more or less know what happened, but talking about it was a little difficult.

"You _do_ know something, right?"

"Urgh…"

"Did they had a fight?"

"N-No… I wouldn't say that…"

"What else was it then? Tell me… please." Miyuki got a little bit excited.

"Let's just say that it'll become interesting rather soon."

"But it already is rather interesting."

"It'll become better."

"Eh? What? Why?" She absolutely wasn't happy with the vague answer, but that was all Tsukasa had to say.

The remaining day in school passed without any incidents and the girls went home. Well, two of them did. The twins had something to do and were busy for most of the remaining day.

….

Saturday, the birthday of Kagami and Tsukasa arrived and Konata was pretty busy with various things. Afternoon had already passed and she was finally ready.

 ** _NANAKON:_** _Good luck!_

Konata read the last message of the chat from her online game with Kuroi-sensei and turned off the PC. She picked the things she's going to need for the day and placed them in a bag and left her home. She went to the station and took the train towards the station near Kagamin's house, but Konata went different way once she arrived at the desired station. Almost an hour passed before she finally arrived at the house. Miki opened the door and welcomed her in.

"Oh, hello Konata, what brings you here?"

"Weren't you the one who told me to come over more often?"

"That's true, but that isn't the reason, right?"

"Ahaha… busted, huh? Well, it's also the birthday of a certain pair of twins, isn't it?"

"It is, but didn't you and Miyuki wanted to come over tomorrow?"

"That was the plan, but sadly, I'm not a very patient person."

"I see… Tsukasa caught a slight cold, though. She's probably asleep right now."

"Oh… really? That's not good."

"She should be fine by tomorrow again. It's nothing serious. Oh, and I'm at the shrine later. Please try to be quiet with Kagami later so that Tsukasa can rest."

"Sure… w-wait…" Konata had the feeling she missed something.

"Well then, have fun." Miki was already having fun.

"Eh…?!" She had a few questions, but Miki was already gone for good.

Konata went upstairs after shaking her head a few times, but decided to stop by Tsukasa's room first. She was awake and so Konata went inside.

"Oh, h-hey Kona-chan."

"Hey, Tsukasa. Just what are you doing? Getting sick on your own birthday…"

"Yeah… the timing isn't the best."

"On top, it's on a weekend. You can't even skip school that way… What happened?"

"Yesterday was pretty cold for some reason and I was outside all day until evening in just a t-shirt…"

"I could say now that that's pretty stupid, but that wouldn't be nice because you're already sick and even more… That sound like something I also would do…"

"Ehehe…"

"I'm still not praising you, though. I hope you'll be okay by tomorrow again."

"I think it'll be fine after another night of sleep."

"That's good."

"By the way, why are you here, Kona-chan?"

"I didn't want to wait for the party tomorrow."

"That sounds like you."

"Well then, happy birthday, Tsukasa." Konata congratulated her, rummaged a bit in the bag she brought and handed her a present over.

"Oh, thank you very much!" She opened the present and saw the cookbook she wanted for some time. "Wait… isn't that… How did you know, Kona-chan?"

"Kagamin~ helped to pick it out."

"I see. It's great, thank you."

"But the book comes with a condition…"

"Huh?" She became a bit confused.

"I'll have to try every single dessert recipe in the book.

"Oh, no, that's not going to be a problem, Kona-chan. I'll gladly fulfill this condition."

"Perfect."

"Aww, that was awfully sweet until it got really selfish at the end…"

"The nice twin gets the sweet treatment, Kagamin~, and the last part is just me being me." Konata had casually answered to the new voice that had joined the conversation. Kagami was standing in the doorframe and listened to the conversation of the two.

"Is that so?"

"Oh! H-Hello, Kagamin~." Konata had only realized it by now."

"H-Hey there…" She, too, got a little nervous after she made the initial remark spontaneously and without thinking.

"Well then… Again, thank you very much for the present, Kona-chan, but I think I should sleep now in order to get over my cold soon." Tsukasa sensed the odd atmosphere and decided to give them a chance to be alone and talk.

"Good idea, get better soon, Tsukasa."

"Sleep well, sis." The two let her rest and exited the room.

"The nice twin gets the sweet treatment, huh?" Kagami's voice sounded a bit pouty as she remembered something she didn't exactly like.

"Ahaha…" She laughed dryly in response. "Well, don't worry about it, you're still my favorite twin."

"I-I see…" The sudden attack was quite unfair and Kagami had no comeback.

The two went into Kagami's room and Konata sat down on the bed while Kagami used the chair by her desk. Both wanted to talk about the incident two days ago, but neither of them dared to actually say anything and so, it became awkward really fast. Their nervousness also didn't help with the situation at all. Konata more or less knew by now that Kagami has some sort of feelings for her and Kagami also thought her chances aren't as bad as expected. The only problem left were their own bodies, who refused to do anything. Some time passed and Konata finally was brave enough to start talking.

"S-So… what happened to Tsukasa?" It wasn't what she wanted to say, but it was a start.

"W-We were helping with the preparations for a local Tanabata festival yesterday and it got later than expected. It was way colder than last week for some reason and… well, you saw the result…"

"I see… Oh, do you mean the Tanabata festival when you follow the road on the right, coming from the station?"

"Uhh… yes, why?"

"I was there earlier before coming over."

"W-What?! Really? No way… W-What did you do there?" Kagami suddenly started panicking for some reason.

"E-Ehm… I just hung up one of these Tanabata wish paper on one of the prepared bamboo there…"

"O-Okay… did you read any of the other wishes?"

"No…?" Konata was rather confused by the unexpected reaction. "I didn't want to waste any more time."

"I see… T-That's good."

"Kagamin~, don't tell me you wrote a wish yourself and I missed a grand opportunity?"

"T-That's not it! I-I definitely didn't!" She panicked even more.

"Aww, I guess I have to take a look later on…"

"You don't have to… Speaking of which, what was your wish, Kona?" Getting the focus away from her was always a good option.

"W-Well… I… actually… uh… wow, it's even harder than I thought." Konata just started fidgeting without ever finishing her sentence.

"Hmm? What's wrong?"

"The thing is… it's a part of what I had planned for today…"

"Oh, you mean your super surprise present that'll blow my mind?"

"M-More or less… But the present only is a small part now because of a rather u-unexpected event two days ago…"

"Huh? A-Ah! Oh…" Kagami needed a second, but then quickly realized that Konata was talking about the 'cosplay incident' from Thursday.

"Y-Yeah…"

"…"

The mood became super awkward again and both looked away from each other while blushing from ear to ear. The silence lasted for a few minutes and Konata started shuffling nervously on the bed.

"O-Okay, I'll end it now." She suddenly spoke up again because she finally had enough of everything and started rummaging in her bag the second time today.

"Huh? E-End?" Kagami became really startled and didn't understand what was going on and became even more confused with the next thing Konata did.

She took a single bamboo cane with a small, red pieced of paper attached to it out of the back and placed it on the desk next to where Kagami was sitting.

"I… I a-actually made two wishes for Tanabata today. One regularly done and this one here is my p-personal wish for you…" Konata's face became redder with each word leaving her lips while placing the bamboo on the desk and she quickly went back to the bed again afterward.

"Uhh… That's not really how Tanabata works but okay…" Kagami still had no idea what was going on here and it got only harder for her. Way harder to be exact. So hard that her brain turned off for the time being after inspecting the red paper. She looked at the strip and decided to turn it around. A little text became visible and she read the wish. "…" Her mind went completely blank for a whole minute before processing it and she freaked out inside soon afterward. _'…'_ Or not because it was too much to take in. She wasn't able to think and looked at the strip of paper again. Her gaze then wandered towards Konata on the bed, but she couldn't face Kagami and so her eyes became fixated on the bamboo on the desk again and she read the text for the third time.

* * *

 **I wish that you will accept my feeling for you. - Izumi Konata**

* * *

Kagami read the line over and over, but just couldn't believe it. _'Ehhh… Uhh… Wait… No… What…? Did she just… Really? Eh… She did… right? Yes… Uh… What… I… I…'_ Her mind was a total mess and not a single clear thought could be formed. "K-K… Ko-Kona… I… E-Explanation, p-please." It was way beyond her capability to process and Kagami needed some words for confirmation.

"…" Konata wasn't in the shape to say anything yet, though. Another full minute or two of her just nervously fidgeting and squirming passed before she finally found enough courage to take a deep breath and to say the words she wanted to say for a long time.

"Kagami… I… For quite some time already…" She was still having a hard time speaking through her embarrassment. "I… don't exactly know how or why it happened, b-but my feelings for you changed somewhere along the way and… I… I fell in love with you!" Konata finally confessed her feelings for Kagami and it looked like a huge weight was lifted from her shoulders, but she still looked really because of Kagami's answer that has yet to come.

"…" Absolutely nothing. Her unfocused gaze went right through Konata. Kagami thought hearing the confession from the paper in person would help her calm down, but everything got only more… 'real'. An eternity of anxious waiting in silence passed and Konata finally got a reaction, but not exactly what she was hoping for. A single tear suddenly ran down Kagami's cheek.

"Oh… K-Kagam-" Konata obviously started panicking, but got promptly interrupted. Kagami left the chair she was sitting on until now, walked towards Konata on the bed, kneeled right before her for the same line of sight and simply hugged her tightly. It was a very powerful hug and also probably the most intimate Kagami ever gave in her life. Her arms were wrapped around Konata's waist as strong as possible while her head was resting on Konata's right shoulder and another tear fell down her cheek. Konata only started panicking more because the situation quickly went beyond her comprehension and she didn't know what to do or say.

"… Thank you…" Kagami finally said a few words and Konata's expression softened up.

"D-Does that mean…"

"Y-Yes… I feel the same way. I-I also love you, Konata." All the frustrations, anxiousness, fears, worries, and whatever else had developed over the past day, weeks and months were simply gone and the only thing left was pure happiness from both girls because they finally knew their feelings are mutual. Kagami couldn't stop smiling and Konata started to return the one-sided hug. She also wrapped her arms around Kagami and held her as close as possible. The two continued their embrace in perfectly calm silence for a couple minutes before separating again. Kagami sat down next to her on the bed and grabbed Konata's hand without any warning, but she wasn't startled at all by it, nor did she mind it in the slightest. Konata just moved her hand a little and intertwined her fingers with Kagami's. The faces of the girls were incredibly read due to the continuing embarrassment, but neither of them felt like making a comment about it.

"Hey, Kona."

"Hmm~?"

"You're a little unfair, you know?"

"Eh? Why?"

"I just started on planning to confess on my own soon because I couldn't take it anymore and then…"

"Hehe, too bad, Kagamin~."

"Well, I don't really care."

"You know, me neither."

"But I could've saved myself from writing that incredibly embarrassing Tanabata wish yesterday if I had known…"

"Oh~? What's that about?"

"I don't have a reason to hide it anymore, do I? I made a similar wish to be fulfilled and hung it up at the festival area you mentioned earlier."

"I knew it! The wish part… not the actual content… Where did you hang it up?"

"Obviously at the furthest corner of the place so that nobody would accidentally read it.

"N-No way… I did the same… It's probably even the same place then… Why didn't I take a look at the other wishes…" Konata got a little depressed because it would've saved her a lot of stress today.

"Really? Wow, you sure are unlucky, huh?"

"Eh? No, I'm the luckiest person alive right now!"

"No, that would be me, Kona."

"Hmm… But I kind of want to go there now and check if it's actually the same place."

"Let's go then."

"Really?"

"Sure, I'm also a bit curious and… I kind of need some fresh air right now to calm down and process a few… things."

"Ehehe." Konata knew exactly what things Kagami meant because she had the same 'problem' right now. Both were on an all-time high ever since the confession and they need to cool down again to fully realize and understand everything now.

…..

The two left the house and walked towards the Tanabata festival. They made a few steps and Konata suddenly grabbed Kagami's hand, but the only reaction she got was a gentle squeeze and so they continued their walk hand in hand in comfortable silence until they reached the place they wanted to see. The secluded area of the festival place was completely empty and only a few bamboo canes with some colorful pieces of paper were standing tied together in a corner.

"Heh~, looks like we really hug our wishes at the same place, Kagamin~."

"Yeah, you're right."

"Man, I sure feel like an idiot right now… I even thought about taking a peek or two for a second, but decided against it in the end…"

"Now that I think about it… Why did you even make a wish here, Kona?"

"To make it fail proof."

"Hmm?" Kagami tilted her head a little, but then looked at the red strip of paper Konata was pointing at and understood

* * *

 **I wish for my plan to succeed. - Izumi Konata**

* * *

"By far the best plan I ever had! Well, it isn't entirely finished yet, but up to now, best plan ever!"

"Uh… What?" She heard something interesting. "There's even more coming?"

"Yep."

"Eh? What is it?"

"Later, Kagamin~, later."

"Ehh? Well, whatever, but you sure played safe with the wish here, huh? Nobody could guess what you meant with it."

"Yeah, well it would be way too embarrassing if someone would read it, right?"

"I-I see… t-that's true…"

"By the way, where's your wish, Kagamin~?"

"D-Does that really matter?"

"Oh, now more than ever!" Konata noticed that Kagami was panicking a little and got even more interested.

"Okay… it's the green one right below yours."

"…" Konata felt a little cheated, but still, read it.

* * *

 **I wish that my feelings will reach her soon. - Hiiragi Kagami**

* * *

"Oh my, how bold of you, Kagamin~."

"S-Shut up, idiot, I already want to die now without you commenting it…"

"Ehehe." Konata was quite happy with the reaction she got and could only laugh in response.

"You little…"

"I think we can go back now, right?"

"Yeah, I think I've seen everything I wanted to." The anger was gone before long and the two were so busy with themselves that they totally overlooked the yellow strip of paper near the wishes of them.

* * *

 **I hope that onee-chan and Kona-chan will become happy together. - Hiiragi Tsukasa**

* * *

The two left the place without noticing it behind and walked, hand in hand, back to Kagami's house. Both were already halfway there when Konata suddenly stopped. She looked at their hands and intertwined fingers and came to realize something.

"It really happened, right?"

"Yeah." Kagami saw where she was looking and gave her an honest answer.

"I'm not dreaming, right?"

"You aren't"

"That's good… Wait! What if I'm just dreaming that it isn't a dream?"

"Because this isn't Ince… Want me to pinch you?"

"Yes! Please do that, Kagamin~."

"Okay…" She did as asked for without any hesitation and pinched Konata's cheek.

"Ouch! Yes! It really isn't a dream!" Even though her cheek hurt, she was really happy.

"That's good to hear… Wait…" No Kagami became a bit paranoid. "W-What if I'm the one who's dreaming and this really is like in Inc-"

"T-That…" Konata hadn't thought of that possibility, but instantly went ahead and also pinched Kagami's cheek.

"Ouch! Oh, g-good…" Their worries were gone and after looking at each others faces with red cheeks for a couple seconds, both started laughing over what just happened.

"We really are stupid, aren't we?"

"Absolutely."

Konata and Kagami continued their walk and reached the house soon enough. Once they arrived, both directly went back to Kagami's room.

….

The two sat down next to each other on the bed and started another conversation.

"Since when?"

"Hmm?" Konata didn't understand Kagami's question first, but she quickly understood after thinking about it. "Oh, you mean… w-well, that's a bit… complicated…"

"Complicated?"

"I did realize my feelings for you about two months ago."

"Really? That's about the same time as me. It was after that long weekend, a week or two before your birthday."

"Wow… it really had the same trigger for both of us… The weekend sure was… well…"

"Eh?! Why didn't you say anything there, Kona? You must've noticed how I was acting afterward."

"I'm sorry, but I was too busy with freaking out of my own…"

"Well… I really can't blame you for that… I mean I also just freaked out without realizing anything…"

"But I don't think that's where it started, though. My relationship with you was a little different from the very beginning. I mean I know Tsukasa for the same time, but I can't really compare the two of you since day one. Hmm… I think my feelings for you actually started to go in that direction after the concert we were earlier this year. You did something very trivial, but it somehow changed something inside me. After that, you couldn't get rid of me anymore, Kagamin~."

"Yeah, I realized that myself and always wondered what happened. It's funny how everything makes sense now. It's almost scary how similar we are there. I think something with me changed a little later at the flower viewing we went to. I saw you sleeping there and… I don't even know what went through my head there. I think I fell more and more for you afterward. I stayed at your place for two full weeks, the cooking practice, the Yokohama trip where I even got jealous about the mere thought of you and Tsukasa sharing a bed, my nightly hugging and not having something against the hugging in the first place anymore or how I started my own teasing. Also the weekend we talked about and tons of stuff I forgot… Wait…" Kagami realized something while listing everything that confirmed her feelings. "Why on earth did it take me so long to realize what was going on with me?"

"You're just a little dense, Kagamin~."

"Oi! You're the last person I want to hear that from! I was throwing hint after hint at you ever since your birthday!"

"C-Calm down, I never said I'm not… I have to be pretty dense when I look back at everything. Well, okay, I realized one or two things, but I ignored it because I was like 'Yeah, sure…'."

"That's good then."

"Hehe… Wait, I have the feeling I'm forgetting something here…" Konata started thinking.

"Hmm?"

"OH! Right… I totally forgot about part B of my plan for your birthday."

"There's really more? You already won the competition of who makes the best present by a land mile, Kona."

"Nonono, that wasn't a gift, just a selfish wish of mine."

"I really don't think so."

"Well, I still have an actual present for you."

"Okay, fine, I guess I have no reason to refuse, have I?"

Konata rummaged in her back once more, pulled out a small, neatly wrapped, red gift and handed it over.

"Happy birthday, Kagamin~."

"Thank you very much, Kona." She opened the present and just speechlessly stared at the content. "W-Wait…"

"Not good?"

"No, it's great…" Inside the present was a thin, silver necklace with a small, flower shaped, silver pendant with light golden highlights. "It's beautiful, but how did you even know?"

"Uhh… when was it again? Right… Remember my birthday when we stopped by the jeweler on our way back from Akiba? You said something about wanting a simple necklace and here we are."

"You remembered that?"

"Of course I did, Kagamin~. It was the perfect thing in order to win the 'birthday present competition'… I mean before I decided to change a part of the plan to an actual confession…"

"I see… But the necklace looks pretty expensive. I'm not sure if I should accept it…"

"Don't be like that… Of course you should, no, you simply have to. Well… I actually don't even know what the price of it was…"

"Huh? What do you mean with that? Weren't you the one who bought it, Kona?"

"It's, again, a bit complicated to be honest… My father gave me a box with jewelry a couple years ago. He said it's from my mother and that she wanted me to have it. I'm not that interested in that kind of stuff and so almost forgot about it. I only remembered after our camping trip a little while ago and thought it was perfect." Konata explained where she got the necklace from and Kagami looked really troubled right now while turning pale.

"W-Wait a moment there… That necklace is something your mother left behind for you and you want to give it to me?! T-There's absolutely no way I can accept it!"

"Why not?"

"Because it's way too important to just give away!"

"I don't get it. I want to give something important for me to one of the, if not the most important person in my life… Where is the problem there, Kagamin~?"

"…" She fell silent and stared at Konata who had said all that with a perfectly serious face. There was no way Kagami could say anything against her anymore and so she accepted the present. "T-Thank you very much, Kona, I'll treasure it. Can you help me put it on?"

"Of course." Konata got behind her, brushed away the hair on Kagami's neck and put the necklace on her. She then looked at her from the front and inspected it. "It looks good on you."

"T-Thank you, I'll never take it off again."

"That's what I wanted to hear."

"I wonder what Tsukasa will say when she sees the necklace… Oh, about that… What will we tell our friends?"

"Hmm… Good question. Does Tsukasa already know?"

"Well, she's the one who helped me to accept my feelings in the first place so she knows that I like you. She also knows that I almost k-kissed you a few days ago and… W-What about you, Kona, did you tell anyone? She quickly changed the topic away from what she just accidentally said at the end.

"Uhh… well… t-that's…"

"D-Don't tell me you told your father?!"

"I'm not that stupid, Kagamin~. It was… Kuroi-sensei…"

"Oh, I see, that's… Huh? Wait, what? Y-You told her out of all people?"

"It's not like I had a saying in that. She pressured me so much that I had no chance… I only told her that I fell for a girl, though. She thinks it's you, but I never confirmed it…"

"Okay… A-Anyway, I think Miyuki also suspects us."

"Yes, she and Tsukasa were definitely trying to get us together!"

"Yeah, I thought the same. So, what should we do, Kona?"

"Hmm…" She started thinking about whether to tell them or not. "How about that… We won't tell them, but we also won't deny it once someone actually asks us?"

"That's a little mean… I like it! Let's do it like that."

"Hehe, good. By the way, I think I overheard something interesting earlier, Kagamin~."

"What is it?"

"S-So you really wanted to… kiss me a couple days ago, huh?"

"W-What?! Ehm…" She wasn't expecting this to be brought up again.

"You should always finish what you started, Kagamin~…"

"Y-You… You want me to…"

"Well… Tsukasa is sick and sleeping, your parents are at the shrine and so are you older sisters, right? No one should… interrupt us now."

"T-That's true, but… au… I want to do it… But I'm so embarrassed I could die right now…" Her completely red face only confirmed it more.

"D-Don't think I'm not…" Konata's cheeks had the same color.

The two very hesitating, but they still relocated themselves a little on the bed in order to face each other and then they looked right into the eyes of the other person. One minute passed and the only thing that had changed was the redness of their faces that had significantly increased. The last time Kagami tried to kiss Konata was completely directed by the mood back then, but now it became really hard to do it on the spot. The determination inside Kagami to finally do it was still strong, though. After mustering all courage she could find, Kagami closed eyes and slowly brought her face closer. Konata saw this and also closed her eyes. –Their lips touched.- It only lasted for a second or two and it was really awkward because both had no experience in doing it, but Konata and Kagami finally shared their first kiss. Their lips separated again and Kagami backed away a little. A short time afterward, both also opened their eyes again. Even their ears were completely red and it took another minute for them to speak again.

"… T-They touched… right?" Konata couldn't believe it and was looking for confirmation. She was never that embarrasses in her life before.

"Y-Yes, they did…" Kagami touched her lips while saying so. She also hard time believing it.

"W-Wow… Uhm… I…" No words were available.

"Yeah…" She still understood her perfectly fine.

"What to say… M-My heart's pounding like never before and my lips are all tingly…"

"Y-You okay, Kona?"

"No… I think it's my turn to die in embarrassment now…"

"I see… but my heart's also racing and my face feels really hot… no, my whole body does…"

"Yeah… my mind's a total mess right now… or rather, it's totally blank… completely empty…" Konata didn't know how she should describe it.

"It's the same for me… b-but you know…"

"I-It doesn't feel bad, right?"

"Hey, Kona?"

"Yes, l-let's do it again." She understood instantly what Kagami wanted and this time, she took the lead. Konata grabbed one of her hands and squeezed it tightly. After that, both closed their eyes and Konata brought her head closer. Their lips touched again and their second kiss lasted a good amount time longer. It still was rather awkward, mainly because both still had to find out the right angle of their heads, but an improvement was already visible. Their hearts were beating like crazy and so the kiss didn't last as long as wanted because of the lack of oxygen, but the kiss still went a little over ten seconds before they parted again in the end. Their extreme embarrassment probably also played a role in the duration. They sat down normally, next to each other, again and took a few breaths to calm down. It took a little before the two actually were calm enough gain, though. At least to the point where they could talk again because their faces still were radiating more heat than an actual heater.

"I-I don't think I'll last very long if the feelings keep up like that, Kona…"

"Y-Yeah… I even feel really tired… I guess we should get used to it soon enough, though."

"That's probably true… Now that you mention it, I'm also rather tired. Are you going to stay here today?"

"Well, I brought clothes, so…"

"Just how much stuff did you bring with you in that bag?" Konata had just pulled out the clothes out of it and Kagami just had to ask now.

"My plan worked perfectly and so, with the clothes out, the bag's empty now."

"I have to agree now, easily the best plan you ever had, Kona."

"Absolutely!"

"Okay then, let's get ready to sleep. The whole day tired me out and it's also already quite late. I'll get the extra futon and…" She wanted to say something, but got instantly interrupted.

"Wait a moment there, Kagamin~! You're not being serious, right?"

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

"Why a futon now out of all times? Do you think someone would ask questions now that we're t-together? Nobody knows yet and more importantly, it would be even more suspicious if we do not share the bed together by now and…"

"…" Kagami didn't answer and instead, she just tried her best to not start laughing, but she failed at it. Seeing Konata panicking that much was just way too amusing for her. "I'm just joking. I want it easily as much as you do, Kona."

"You…" Konata wanted to get angry, but ultimately, there was absolutely no reason to.

"Let's get ready for bed already. I'm really tired…"

The two went to the bathroom and changed their clothes in turns. After that, they got back to the bed again, laid down next to each other after turning off the light and started talking again.

"Hey… Kona?"

"Yes?"

"I… I don't have to h-hold back anymore, right?"

"H-Huh? I… I guess so, b-but what do you mean…?" It sounded like an extremely loaded question to Konata and so she got rather nervous.

"Pervert." Kagami obviously knew what was going through Konata's head, but she still proceeded with what she wanted to do. She moved to her side, to face Konata who looked a bit confused, but Kagami didn't care about that. She wrapped her arms around Konata's chest and pulled her as close as possible to herself. At the same time, she also trapped one of Konata's legs between her own. "That's what I wanted…"

"Calling me a pervert while using me as a hug pillow is a bit…"

"Do you have any complaints?"

"Uhh…" Konata looked at the situation again. At Kagami hugging her from the side while wrapping her arms around her and her head nestling in Konata's shoulder. "On a second thought… Nope, the pervert thinks everything's fine."

"Then stay still and let me have this. Now that I finally can do it without feeling bad again."

"So that was the reason for you nightly hugging?"

"Well… I really did it unconsciously most of the time, but after realizing my feelings… It was a bit complicated… All I know, though, is that it really helps me to calm and sleep like a baby…"

"I see… I hope you're prepared to sleep like a baby more often because I'll get angry when we share a bed again and you won't do the same thing."

"That won't be a problem." Kagami reassured her and gave her body a big, but gentle squeeze in order to confirm her promise.

"That's good to know."

"Let's sleep now."

"Good idea, Kagamin~."

"Good night." Both said it at the same time and the room fell silent for a minute.

"Kona?"

"Hmm~?"

"I love you."

 _'_ _Hnng…'_ Konata's heart almost didn't make it. "I love you, too."

With those last words of the day, Konata and Kagami went silent again and the two fell asleep more or less instantly. It was by far the best and most relaxing sleep both ever had in their life.

* * *

…

I'm really not good with sticking to my own release schedules… Well, as long as it's earlier as predicted, I don't think someone will be honest, the chapter was already done almost a week ago, but I had to go to some medical checkups for cavities and diabetes because the chapter had way too much sugar… No, on a serious note, do you know the feeling of forgetting something important, but you can't remember what? I had this feeling ever since I completed this chapter. I still haven't found out what it was, though.

To be honest, the chapter was already done almost a week ago, but I had to get some medical checkups for cavities and diabetes because the chapter had way too much sugar… No, on a serious note, do you know the feeling of forgetting something important, but you can't find out what? I had this feeling ever since I completed this chapter. for the whole week, but I still haven't found out what it was, though. Well, I'll probably remember a few das after and get disappointed with myself...

By the way, Konata and Kagami are finally together! (And it only took about 140k words and 22 chapters…)

I had three different approaches for the confession ready. The first was the thing I had planned at the very beginning. I made the concept for the confession back in 2014. It was the first I did before anything else of the story. The original concept didn't work as well as planned anymore because it had way more drama in it. Over the course of the story, the two became way closer than planned and drama, like fear of rejection or something like going out of the room and breaking down and whatever, just didn't work, especially after the last chapter. My second idea was similar to the final chapter, just with more focus on the Tanabata festival, maybe even with a semi-public confession, but confessions like that aren't really that romantic in my eyes… They are just incredibly embarrassing. And the most important thing, who cares about Tanabata when the two finally got together? I made the little Tanabata summary in the last chapter and thought that should be enough. The last confession I had planned was the one I did here. I added some elements of Tanabata because I thought it was a nice little touch with the wish to Kagami. The actual confession ended up being rather 'anticlimactic' and smooth because... well, the two were basically dating since chapter four or so, but nobody told them. I think it was also the most realistic way to confess because the two had more or less found out the feelings of each other again and all that was left was the confirmation.

That being said, I think the end, including the kiss, was still a tiny bit over the top, but I had so much fun that I couldn't stop myself and I think my own face was easily as red as the two of them while writing. Shortly said, I had a lot of fun :) That's probably also the reason the two may feel a little more out of character, than before but hey, ultra honest Kagami and Konata are super adorable.

…

I think after this chapter, it's a good place to write a little about the future of the story.

Realistically speaking, it wouldn't be a bad point to end the story. You know, the girl got the… girl and they lived happily ever after… A lot of stories and most of the mangas and animes I know normally do actually end like this.

I don't, though. I mean, the fun starts once you actually start dating (Although, I'm not going to change the rating if you think that now, perverts)… I still have a lot of things planned and already easily planted five or so (if not more) hints in the story to go on for quite a bit. Looking back, I might've made a little mistake with starting the story in their second year of High school and not in the third because I may have to do a few short time skips to get where I want. I have the ideas of what I want to do and when, but filling the voids between them is a bit hard. I'm also thinking about whether to add Yutaka, Minami and co or not later on...

That being said, I'm open to suggestion if you want to see something (that's not already spoilered in the story in some way). Maybe there's something I can try then.

For the next chapter… The actual birthday party is one thing. I originally planned it to happen in this chapter, but after writing the end, I decided to cut it because it was the perfect point to stop this chapter. Let's find out how long Miyuki and Tsukasa need to find out. For when it happens… Do you really think I'll make another prediction? Probably between tomorrow and December. I think I'll make it this time… :)


	23. Their own little world

Warning: Slight rating change for this chapter to F for fluffy.

May contains major amounts of them being adorable.

* * *

The morning after Konata and Kagami finally got together made a late start. The two were sleeping so soundly through the whole night that they, especially in Kagami's case, lost quite a few hours of the morning, but it being Sunday made it not such a big of a problem. Still, she wasn't used to sleeping that in this late, even when sharing the bed with Konata and so, Kagami decided to wake up, at least sort of. She let her eyes closed and gave Konata, which she was hugging through the whole night, a gentle squeeze while enjoying the warmth and let out a comfortable sigh.

"Man, I had the best dream ever… Kona and I actually… Eh?! W-Wait…" She gave Konata another squeeze in order to confirm something Kagami just remembered. The 'dream' ended the with same she was feeling now and so she opened her eyes. Just like in her 'dream', the way she was embracing the smaller girl was exactly the same. "Seriously? Wow… I can't believe it… Ehehe…" Despite what she just said, the huge grin on her face and the giggling gave it away. Kagami knew perfectly well that it was true and she just needed a way to express her overflowing happiness. "That's so great!" She decided to stay in the bed for a little longer and continued to cuddle with Konata.

15 whole minutes passed and Kagami still didn't want to let go, but she remembered the cold of her sister.

"Ughh… I reallyyyy don't want to get up, but I should better check up on Tsukasa…" A few more moments of fighting against herself passed, but after whispering something in Konata's ear, she finally got up and left the room.

A minute of absolute silence passed in the room and Konata suddenly opened her eyes.

"W-Wow… I wasn't planning on pretending to be asleep… but I somehow missed the right time to speak up and… Dere Kagamin~ sure can be embarrassing." She listened to everything Kagami had said. "Casually whispering 'I love you' into my ear and then leaving… I don't remember raising such a smooth girl… It's good that she's as happy as I am, though. I mean, I finally cleared the Kagamin~ route! And even in hardcore mode without any save points that's called reality… Sooo unbelievable great!" Konata was easily as happy as Kagami and needed a few minutes before leaving the bed herself.

….

Kagami arrived at Tsukasa's room in the meanwhile and knocked repeatedly at her door. She had way too much energy after just waking up.

"Good morning, Tsukasa! How's your cold… Huh?" She sprung into the room, but was greeted by emptiness because Tsukasa wasn't there. After a bit of thinking, Kagami decided to go downstairs into the kitchen to check if she's there and maybe get a quick snack.

"Oh, good morning, onee-chan… If you still can call that morning." Tsukasa greeted her sister who had entered the kitchen and looked pretty smug for some reason.

"Yeah, yeah, I overslept a little… So, I guess your cold's better?"

"Yes, it's all gone. Sleeping for almost an entire day helped."

"That's good to hear."

"Absolutely."

"By the way, what are you doing, sis?"

"I'm looking for recipes to try out from the book I got from Kona-chan. I think I'm going with the chocolate cake I found."

"Uhh… chocolate cake, huh? Sounds great, but isn't it a bit early for cake?"

"Onee-chan… first off, it's almost noon and second, it's for the party…"

"O-Oh, right… the party… Well, it's not like I wanted to eat cake now in the first place… Absolutely not… B-But Kona's probably happy that you're trying something out of the book she got for you." Kagami wasn't fooling anyone, but Tsukasa decided to stay silent and she wanted to know something way more interesting in her eyes anyway.

"Speaking of Kona-chan, what did you two yesterday?"

"H-Huh? Uh… w-well, that's… hmm…" She had no idea what to answer. She and Konata decided not to actively try to hide their relationships from their friends, but telling it on her own and not even a day after it happened was a bit much. "N-Nothing out of the ordinary, I guess… J-Just having a good time or something like that…"

"Really? That's all? You look oddly happy and cheerful, onee-chan."

"Well, sorry for being in a good mood…"

"I-I'm sorry… I-I didn't mean it like that…" Tsukasa started panicking a little, but had no time to find a good excuse.

"Oh my, good morning, Kagami, you're finally up, huh? It's unusual for you to oversleep. What happened?" Miki came into the kitchen and was a bit curious.

"Urgh…" Kagami immediately had a bad feeling. "I-It just got a little late yesterday and…"

"Is that so? When did Konata go home anyway?"

"Uh… Well, she's still asleep in my… ehm… room."

"I see~."

"No, she isn't." Another voice suddenly joined the conversation by correcting Kagami.

"Oh, good morning, Kona-chan."

"Konata, hello."

"Hey, you two and heeelllloooo Kagamin~!"

"H-Hey, Kona, when did you wake up?" She became a bit nervous because she wasn't sure how to act right now.

"Actually…" Konata sheepishly scratched her head. "About half an hour ago…"

"I see… Wait, what?! H-Half an hour ago?! Does that mean…"

"Yes~, I heard everything. Kagamin~'s so cute."

"S-Shut up, idiot! Why didn't you say anything when you were awake?"

"Well… I didn't plan to stay silent, but I missed the point to speak up and then… It got way too interesting to even think about it…"

"You little…" She was about to get angry.

"But Kagamin~, I really liked what I heard because I think the same."

"Don't think your useless flattering will save you, Kona… The same…? R-Really?

"Of course! There shouldn't be any room for doubt anyway, right?" Konata playfully nudged Kagami's side with her elbow while saying so.

"Hmm… Ehehe…" Kagami's stupidly big grin from earlier was back and she looked super happy.

"Uhm… Kona-chan, what do you mean? What did onee-chan say?"

"H-Huh?!"

"Oh…" The two were completely lost in their own little world and forgot that they weren't alone in the kitchen.

"Sorry sis, but we're not going to tell you." Kagami quickly answered before Konata because she had a bad feeling with her answering first.

"Aww… Soooo mean…" Tsukasa started pouting.

"What about good old Miki? Come on, Konata, you know that you can tell me everything."

"Really, mom? You say that to her instead to your actual daughter?"

"I'm sorry, dear… Do you want to tell me then?"

"Ehm… no."

"I'm sorry, Miki, but I have to be on Kagami's side for a change here." Konata thought that sharing too much information with Miki could turn out to be pretty embarrassing for her… again.

"Aww… So mean…" She really is the mother of the twins.

"Thank you, Kona."

"You're welcome."

"These two…"

"Indeed." Tsukasa and Miki were throwing a small fit, bit Miki's expression soon turned into a gentle smile directed at Kagami and Konata. "Well, I think I had enough for today. Have fun at the party, later on, you three… Actually, only Miyuki is missing, though…" She let out a small giggle and left the kitchen.

"… A-Anyway…" Konata was pretty relieved that Miki didn't pressure her anymore, even though it looked like she was a bit doubtful. "What are you two doing in the kitchen?"

"Oh, I was looking for recipes in the cookbook you gave me, Kona-chan." Tsukasa said so and showed her the page with the chocolate cake.

"Nice… but a cake as the first meal of the day is a bit… even for me… Sure, it's perfect for Kagamin~ and all…"

"Kona-chan… you and onee-chan sure think alike, huh?"

"Hmm?"

"Onee-chan said almost the same, but also didn't look like she was serious."

"I-I really didn't want any cake!" Kagami became a bit red.

"Oh, Tsukasa became pretty sharp, huh?"

"Yes~."

"S-Shut up, you two!"

"Seriously, though, I'm quite hungry…"

Kagami wholeheartedly agreed with Konata and the two decided to eat something while Tsukasa continued the preparation for the cake.

….

Half an hour passed and the three girls went to Kagami's room in order to pass the time until Miyuki arrives.

"Hey, onee-chan, what's up with the bamboo cane on your desk?"

"H-Huh?! That's… oh…"

"That's just a little Tanabata play I did yesterday." Konata answered for her and whispered something to Kagami. "I placed the paper strip in your desk before leaving earlier."

"T-Thanks, Kona."

"Oh, right, speaking of yesterday, what did you get from Kona-chan, onee-chan?"

"That's true, I haven't shown you yet, have I?" Kagami grabbed inside her shirt and proudly revealed the necklace she got from Konata.

"Wooow, so pretty and the flower pendant looks really cute." Tsukasa looked with sparkly eyes at it." Good for you, onee-chan." She then gave her a little smirk.

"Yes, I really love it myself." She took another look at the necklace and then let it slide beneath her shirt again.

"Regarding yesterday… I kind of, totally accidentally of course, maybe lied to you just a little bit, Kagamin~. My bag with the stuff from yesterday actually isn't completely empty…"

"Ehh?! Don't tell me there's even more? No… wait a moment… It's stuff for copying homework, isn't it?"

"My Kagamin~ knows me so well." Konata praised her in her own way and jumped at Kagami in order to give her a hug.

"It's not that hard to look through you when it comes to homework, Kona."

"Hehe, well then, please do your best with the homework and then let me copy it, thanks."

"Do you really think that's going to work?"

"Oh, can I copy them, too, onee-chan?" Tsukasa just ignored the fact that her sister didn't react at all or not even blushed a little from Konata hugging her and decided to get the best out of the situation and used her puppy eyes for extra effect.

"Oi!"

"Come on, Kagamin~, I think I earned myself a reward for yesterday…"

"I'm pretty sure you got a fair compensation afterward already…"

"Hmm? Oh… you mean the… Right… Fair point…" Konata remembered the kiss from last night. She definitely already got her reward, but, as usual, Konata's a pretty greedy person. "Please~."

"What happened yesterday?"

"Ah!" Kagami had forgotten about Tsukasa again. "… Okay… fine you two can copy." She took the easy way out. Letting them copy was easier than arguing and explaining to Tsukasa.

"Yay!"

"Thank you, onee-chan."

"Yeah, yeah…"

And with that, the three girls spent the next two hours with homework. Well, Kagami did. Konata and Tsukasa spent one hour and 45 minutes with a heated discussion about the perfect dessert and the remaining 15 minutes with copying what Kagami did.

….

Their homework was 'done' and it didn't take long until Miyuki arrived afterward. The doorbell rang and Tsukasa bolted right up.

"Yuki-chan's here!" She said so and basically vanished out of the room.

"Wow, someone's excited there."

"Y-Yeah..."

"Oh, regarding this morning when I was asleep, Kagamin~."

"Hmm?"

"I love you, too, of course." Konata totally caught her off guard, but that wasn't everything. She leaned over and gave Kagami a quick peck on the lips before leaving the room. "That's for being so smooth in the morning. Come on, let's go and greet Miyuki." She went downstairs, but Kagami needed a moment before standing up.

"Eh…? Wait… huh?" It took her a moment to comprehend what happened, but then she decided to follow Konata.

"Hey there, Yuki-chan."

"Hello, Tsukasa-san. Oh, and… Izumi-san." Miyuki greeted the two girls she saw at the entrance.

"Hey, Miyuki, uhm… K-Kagamin~ should also come soon enough." The stunt Konata pulled off earlier also applied some damage to herself. She was stuttering a bit and a slight blush was present on her cheeks.

"Good day, Kagami-san. My, did something happen?" Miyuki saw Kagami's completely red face when coming downstairs and got a little worried, or rather, interested according to her smile.

"N-No… nothing happened. N-Nothing at all…" She wasn't very convincing, but got unexpected and probably unplanned help.

"Let's go upstairs already, Yuki-chan."

"Just one moment please, Tsukasa-san. First off, happy birthday to you and Kagami-san." She congratulated the twins and then handed both some flowers and a present each over.

After that, Tsukasa got her will and they went upstairs. She had successfully diverted the attention, even though unconsciously, away from her sister who sighed in relief. She and Konata were a bit lagging behind the other two.

"Y-You can't do something like that out of the blue, Kona…" She referred to what Konata did before going downstairs.

"W-Why not?"

"Because I need to prepare myself for it, especially my heart, that is…"

"I see…"

"Wait, why's your face also red, Kona?"

"W-Well, I maybe, kind of, just theoretically speaking, wasn't exactly planning on doing what I did and… You know, it was unconsciously and so… Maybe, just maybe, but totally not sure… Perhaps… I got a tiny bit embarrassed myself after doing it… Still, I'm just theoretically speaking here… don't take me too serious…"

"Oh my god, you're way too adorable, Kona!" Kagami's own embarrassment was totally gone and she just wanted to hug Konata right now.

"L-Like I said, it's not like that…"

"So cute." Someone was having a lot of fun.

"Shut up, idiot!"

"Ehehe" Kagami got what she wanted.

"T-Tsukasa! Kagamin~'s bullying me again!" Konata yelled upstairs for help.

"You shouldn't do that, onee-chan!" And she promptly got the desired backup.

"You little…" With that, Kagami got a little angry and decided to chase Konata upstairs. The two were so fast that they even arrived before Tsukasa and Miyuki in Tsukasa's room, but managed to hold back there because they actually remembered that the two weren't alone.

"G-Good thing I have witnesses here…"

"Don't think it's over already, Kona."

"Huh… Somehow, I'm looking kind of forward to it…"

"What? Just what are you thinking about?"

"Probably the same as you, Kagamin~."

"Hmm…" She did.

"What are they talking about, Tsukasa-san?" The other two also arrived in the room.

"I have absolutely no idea, Yuki-chan."

"Did something happen again?"

"I don't know either, but the two are acting rather odd all day long already."

"What do you mean?"

"Well…" Tsukasa gestured at Konata and Kagami, who were again lost in their own little world and were completely ignoring them.

"Is that any different from usual?"

"Uhh…" Tsukasa was at a loss for words.

"Well, I guess they look happier than usual?"

"Yes! That's what I meant!"

"Wait a moment… What do you mean with all day? Since when is Izumi-san here?"

"Oh, right… She's here since yesterday."

"Is she?"

"Yeah, and it looks they had a lot of fun yesterday, but they won't tell me anything… Oh, and you have to see what Kona-chan got for onee-chan's birthday!" Tsukasa managed to get her sisters attention and Kagami proudly showed her necklace to Miyuki.

"Oh my, that looks really good on you, Kagami-san."

"Thank you."

"How did you decide on a necklace, Izumi-san?" Miyuki obviously got really interested.

"Well, Kagamin~ dropped one or two hints on me when we visited a jeweler some time ago."

"T-That wasn't my intention back then…"

"I know that, Kagamin~."

"That's nice… Wait…" Miyuki realized something. "Why exactly were you two visiting a jeweler together…?"

"Ehm, no… we didn't really plan on doing that… We were just taking a stroll when we ended up there or something like that."

"Oh, that's what it was…" Miyuki wasn't sure what she should've expected.

"My, what were you thinking, Miyuki." Konata decided to have some fun at her expense.

"H-Huh? I-I wasn't really thinking about anything." Miyuki was fidgeting a little and Kagami suddenly started grinning.

"Is that so? To me, it looked like you were imagining something." Both, Kagami and Konata, knew that Miyuki and Tsukasa were trying to get the two together. Having a bit of fun with this was only fair in their eyes. And of course, it was really fun.

"N-No, i-it really isn't like that…"

Konata and Kagami tried their best and even lasted almost a minute, but in the end, the two started laughing. Miyuki was too flustered to say any more and so, the topic was dropped.

The birthday party, or rather the usual get-together went along smoothly. Tsukasa served the cake she made and Konata was now sure that the gift for her was a good idea. The girls kept chatting about various things and the day soon came to an end. Thanks to them not finding a moment to be alone, a normal goodbye had to suffice for Konata and Kagami. Both absolutely weren't regretting their decision to wait for their friends to find out on their own right own.

…

Konata arrived at home and was about to head to her room, but she ran into her father.

"Oh, welcome back, Konata. How was the birthday?"

"Hey, dad. It was… amazing." She smiled from ear to ear.

"That's an interesting way to describe… What happened?"

"Good things, very good things."

"O… kay…" Sojiro had no idea what was going on.

"By the way, the novel going well as usual?"

"D-Don't remind me of that!"

"Huh?"

"My editor rejected the last three chapters and I have to change soooo much!"

"Tough luck, huh? Well, have fun with that. I've got to and maybe plan some stuff with Kagamin~."

"Eh? Why? Weren't you just with her?"

"Because… reasons… many of them…" With that being said, Konata had again a huge grin on her face and disappeared into her room.

"Okay, that was… interesting. Well, gotta edit those stupid chapters…"

Konata entered her room and was about to call Kagami because of said reasons. But something else caught her interest before.

"Well, I guess I could play a little first…" The temptation was too high and before she even knew, Konata had started her PC and loaded her usual online game. "Oh, sensei's online. That's rare… hehehe…"

 **Konakona:** Yo, sensei!

 **Nanakon:** Izumi!

 **Konakona:** Doing the same as every time, huh?

 **Nanakon:** Oi! -.-

 **Konakona:** xD

 **Nanakon:** And? Speak up!

 **Konakona:**?

 **Nanakon:** How did it go? Let me guess, chickened out, right?

 **Konakona:** Ah, that…

 **Nanakon:** A proper crash and burn, huh?

 **Konakona:** How rude! I'm not you, sensei!

 **Nanakon:** Oh, your next test is going to look pretty bad, Izumi.

 **Konakona:** NOOOOOOOOOOO! ;;

 **Nanakon:** Wait a moment! You serious?!

 **Konakona:** Yep! I properly cleared the route yesterday!

 **Nanakon:** Wow! Congratz!

 **Konakona:** Thanks.

 **Nanakon:** So, when am I going to meet this mysterious girl? ;)

 **Konakona:** According to her… probably never.

 **Nanakon:** HeHe.

 **Konakona:** But seriously, don't make any stupid jokes at school.

 **Nanakon:** Just who do you think I am?

 **Konakona:** Kuroi-sensei.

 **Nanakon:** OI!

 **Nanakon:** Of course not. After all, Hiiragi's rage is even known in the faculty room…

 **Konakona:** Ha! I knew it! Kagamin~'s tsundere rage is famous after all.

 **Nanakon:** Finally admitting that it's her, huh?

 **Konakona:** Come on, you knew it from the beginning.

 **Nanakon:** That's true…

 **Konakona:** Probably wasn't that hard to guess in the first place.

 **Nanakon:** What do the friends think?

 **Konakona:** We're playing a game with them right now. 'Who's the first to find out.'

 **Nanakon:** No hiding then?

 **Konakona:** Nah, we already know they're fine with it. Or rather, they even tried to push us multiple times already because they were sick of how we acted. We thought it's gonna be fun to find out how long they need to notice.

 **Nanakon:** Such a nice couple.

 **Konakona:** :)

 **Nanakon:** What about parents?

 **Konakona:** Oh, we actually haven't talked about that. Probably keep it low there for some time first.

 **Nanakon:** That's probably a good idea, but you have to clear that quest before the wedding. I'm invited, right?

 **Konakona:** Sensei… -.- I don't need another person joking about that…

 **Nanakon:** Aww, I'm not the first person to tease you about it? Who's it? I want to have a word with them.

 **Konakona:** Oh no, nononono, not going to happen. Absolutely not. NEVER!

 **Nanakon:** Oh? Now you have my attention.

 **Konakona:** Hey sensei, how about an all-night grinding party?

 **Nanakon:** I'm in! I'm soooo in!

The topic was averted, but neither Konata nor Kuroi-sensei were of any use on Monday in school. It became mostly self-study and the two finally found a bit of sleep. Kagami was a bit angry that she hadn't gotten a call that night and Konata also felt a bit bad that she forgot about it while gaming, but a pouty Kagami was something like a reward for her and so, no lessons were learned.

…

The remaining week in school was rather peaceful. Not that nothing happened, Miyuki and Tsukasa just never saw the other two during breaks. Kagami never came over and Konata vanished into thin air the moment the bell rang. The remaining two had no idea what was going on, but were growing more and more suspicious.

The weekend arrived soon enough and Kagami came over to Konata's place as usual.

"Yo."

"Ah, welcome, Kagamin~." Konata welcomed her when she saw Kagami entering her room.

"What's up?" She sat down on Konata's bed, grabbed one of the many light novels she'd casually stored in the room and made herself more comfortable.

"Nothing much, just the usual."

"Oh, that's no good…" She knew perfectly well what the usual is.

"Hehe. And, any plans for the weekend?"

"Mhhm… not really… What about you, Kona?"

"Why is it always me who has to decide?"

"Because you're good at it."

"Heh~." Konata was pretty happy and didn't even realize how easy she was manipulated by her. "Well, I guess it can't be helped then."

"And?"

"I have absolutely no idea whatsoever."

"So much for that…"

"Hmm… Well, I guess we normally should do something date-like now, right? Go outside somewhere and stuff…"

"Uhm… probably…?"

"How does the exact opposite sounds?"

"Eh?"

"You know, something like staying here, playing a game or watching a movie and taking it easy."

"Oh, you mean our usual thing, huh?"

"Exactly. Sure, we'll go on dates once I find a dating game worthy of Kagami-sama in order to get some good references."

"And with that, all future date activities are going to be planned by me."

"Aww, but what about my ehm… uh, let's call it an indoor date? Just the two of us leisure spending our time here?"

"I think that's… Wait, where's your dad? I really don't want to repeat what happened last time…"

"Heeeh~? Ka~ga~min~, what are you imagining~? Konata started grinning from ear to ear. "I really just meant playing a game."

"W-What?! Ehm… It's not like want to peacefully cuddle with you all day or anything…"

"Wow…" Konata was honestly surprised. "Such an adorable creature is actually my girlfriend… I'm such a lucky girl..."

"Ehehe…" She went from embarrassed to happy in less than a second.

"But my father, huh? Well, last time I saw him… Wait, when was it again? Oh, right… A few days ago, I think four to be exact, I saw him carrying a mini-fridge into his room and then… no, I think that was the last time… Now that I think about it… Should I be worried?"

"Ehhh?! You probably should… for various reasons…"

"Maybe I should check up on him then…"

"Hey, not so fast there, Kona. I'm sure it's fine if you wait until tomorrow."

"Oho, someone's eager."

"Okay then, let's go with your plan, Kona."

"Nononono… Wait, how about we just ignore my slight idiocy and…"

"Slight?"

"Shut up… and combine both ideas?"

"How's that supposed to work?"

"Well, that's pretty easy…" Konata got up from the chair she was sitting on, turned on the game console and gave Kagami one of the controllers while keeping one for herself. After that, she climbed on the bed and gently pushed Kagami against the wall. When her position was right, Konata sat down on her lap and moved Kagami's arms around her waist. "That's how you combine both."

"I see… I can see the TV, can hold my controller and have something cuddly right in front of me… Not bad. Really, not bad, Kona." Kagami looked pretty impressed. She pulled her closer to herself and rested her chin on Konata's shoulder I order to get a better view of the TV and, of course, get as much body contact as possible.

"So brutally honest, the dere part is strong in you."

"Do you think you're in the position to make your tsundere jokes, Kona?"

"I always am!"

"Is that so?" Konata couldn't see Kagami's evil smile, but she soon enough realized her mistake. The next thing she felt was that escaping had become impossible because Kagami's grip around her waist became much stronger.

"O-Oh… the right position was meant literally, huh?"

Kagami didn't answer and instead, she just threw her over. Konata landed on the bed and she jumped on top of her while restraining Konata's arms.

"Hey, Kagamin~, is it just me or does that happen quite often?"

"It is… and it's always your fault."

"I wouldn't go that far…"

"I would, I did and I will again."

"Sassy Kagamin~, always nice."

"Hehe."

"But you know, that's the first time after we're together."

"We're pretty weird, aren't we, Kona?"

"Just the way I like it."

"Yeah, that's how we are after all."

"So, Kagamin~, what now?" Konata looked at Kagami on top of her and waited for an answer.

"Hmm… First time after we got together, you say…" Konata got her answer soon enough, but not in spoken form. While still restraining the arms of the defenseless girl beneath her, Kagami lowered her head a little.

"Oh, I like where this is going…"

"Just. Shut. Up." Kagami wasn't in the mood for talking. It definitely wasn't a bad mood, far from it, but talking wasn't appropriate right now. Konata silently nodded and stopped talking. Kagami continued where she stopped before and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

Konata felt more teased than anything else and decided to speed things up a bit. She wrapped her arms around Kagami's neck and pulled her head close in order to get a full kiss on the lips. Unsurprisingly, Kagami didn't fight back at all and welcomed the eagerness. The two shared a couple more kisses until she wanted to try something different. Kagami let go of Konata's lips and slowly moved towards her neck where she placed multiple more heavy kisses. The reaction she got from Konata, the playful winding and squirming, only increased her excitement. Kagami moved away from her neck and made her way up to Konata's ear, where she playfully started nibbling on her earlobe. Konata's winding and squirming made her only more eager, at least for a short moment.

"Mhmm." Konata let out a small moan and Kagami immediately stopped in her tracks. The unusual, unexpected and rather cute sound from Konata made her slip back to reality and Kagami let go of her ear while moving away a little before looking Konata directly into her eyes.

"Pfft." Kagami didn't know how to react and just laughed as a first response. For some reason, she wasn't embarrassed in the slightest. That was Konata's job anyway right now.

"…" She naturally hadn't planned to let that sound out and she just wanted to hide somewhere, but her red face would be visible even from space. "W-Well…"

"Ehehe… did I just found a weak point of yours?"

"N-No, you did not!"

"Really~? It sure sounded like it and that you liked it."

"S-Shut up!" Both knew that Kagami was right, but accepting was a different matter altogether.

"I never thought I would find one first, though."

"And I never thought you would be the perverted one here, Kagamin~. Actually… the silent types are usually the… Wait, you're not really the silent type… You nag all the time, not complaining by the way, I like it, and… you actually don't do that much lately anyway… Huh? Does that even count? Silent type usually means something else, right? Ehm… Anyway, I'm surprised that I'm not surprised or, I'm not surprised that I'm surprised… ehh? Where was I again? Ah, right, pervy Kagamin~ was it…" She had totally lost it on the way.

"Kona?"

"Yes?"

"Can I hit you? I really want to hit you right now… Please?"

"That wouldn't help your position much, Kagamin~."

"Eh?"

"A-Anyway…" Konata decided to give up. "Next time, I'm going to have to find two weak points of yours."

"Is that so? I don't think I can agree with that."

"Who said you have a saying in that?"

"Oh, you just sealed your own fate, Kona. I'll make it my personal goal that I'll never lose my lead and the only thing that's going to change is the gap between our points." Both were easily as competitive as the other and Konata began to have a bad feeling about it.

"Hey, Kagamin~, as nice as this was and I mean really super extreme nice…"

"Yeah, it was…" The competitive and cheeky grin changed into a goofy and sweet one.

"How about we go back to our original plan for now? Cuddly gaming session, that is."

"That sounds… just perfect." Both wanted to cool down a little and went back to their initial position on the bed. Kagami leaned against the wall and Konata sat down on her lap while placing Kagami's arms around her waist. Both became really relaxed and let out a comfortable sigh.

"Ahh, how nice~." Konata was about the controller again to finally start a game when she felt Kagami tense up behind her.

"Oh…" She turned a bit pale. "Oh-oh…"

"Hmm?"

"Well…" Kagami was fixated on Konata's neck and brushed a few hair strands away. "I… I left a mark…"

"Huh? Really? Like I said before… pervert."

"Kona… it's not the time for that… not that I won't punish you later…"

"Ehhh… I just can't win, can I?"

"Shut up and stay focused!"

"I always am!"

"You never are!"

"Okay, go on." Konata gave up.

"What do we do now?"

"What's the problem? It's not like it's that big anyway, is it?" Konata couldn't see the hickey and so, she just took a guess.

"W-Well…" Not a good one.

"Hmm… okay, it's only Saturday, it should be gone when school starts on Monday, right?"

"Actually… those things easily last a week or so…"

"Oh… I'm starting to see the problem now."

"What now, Kona."

"Eh… Who cares? Do you really think Tsukasa will understand the connection in the first place?"

"Oi! Well, yeah… you could say it's a bug bite and she wouldn't question it, but Miyuki…"

"Right… Miyuki… Yep, we're screwed. Well, it lasted a little over a week… Already longer than I thought."

"Oh, we could try a bit of makeup to mask it."

"I guess that could work."

"Okay, let's do that."

"Crisis successfully averted, Kagamin~."

"Yeah."

"Heh, now I can play a little longer with them."

"Maybe we should just tell our friends."

"Aww…"

"How about we start the game now, Kona?"

"Now that's a good idea."

The two finally started what they planned from the very beginning. Konata handed one controller over and Kagami wrapped her arms around Konata again. The game loaded, Kagami placed her head on Konata's should and the two played and cuddled until late at night where both fell asleep in each other arms.

* * *

.

These two are going to be the end of me... Way too adorable.

I think I kind of messed a bit too much with their characters. I have the feeling Konata is is more tsundere than Kagami sometimes. It doesn't exactly fit their original characters much, but at the same time, it somehow does... Kagami needed some time to warm up and become honest and now that she is, Konata has no idea how to handle her anymore. Kagami knows that and also how to use it. I think she's a tiny bit on the S side...

Anyway, I love them both with how I portray them.

If someone's wondering about the making out in the end... I want this story to be rather 'tame'. It will probably get a bit more, but I'm never going to change it to something M-Rated.

Next chapter... I kind of want to do something focused on Miyuki and Tsukasa for a change, but I'm not entirely sure what yet. I have a rough idea, but something's still missing there. After that, probably summer break and I'm open for suggestions there.


	24. Interests

I guess I'll blame the high fever I had because of the flu I was fighting while writing for the following chapter…

.

* * *

A new week had started and coincidentally, it also was the last week before their long summer vacation. The girls were in school and lunch break had started just a couple seconds ago. Konata was about to leave the classroom, like she did almost every day for the last two weeks in order to spend to break alone Kagami, when Tsukasa noticed something as she walked past her.

"Hey, Kona-chan, what happened to your neck?"

"H-Huh?!" Konata immediately froze in her tracks and touched her neck. Looking at her hand afterward, she realized the makeup she used to hide the hickey wasn't working as intended. On part of it was sticking to her hand right now and the other part was smeared on the collar of Konata's uniform. "Ahh… that… well… that's just a pretty nasty bug bite…"

"Oh, I see… I hate bugs!" It looked like Tsukasa bought it.

"But why were you trying to hide it with makeup, Izumi-san?" Unfortunately, Miyuki was also nearby.

"O-Oh… ehm…" Konata felt cornered already and started looking for help, but the only help, Kagami, was nowhere to be seen. She even looked at the door of her class and hoped that Kagami would just magically appear at the right moment. It didn't happen and rather on the contrary to her plea, Konata was almost sure she saw one of Kagami's twintails disappearing in the corner of her eye when she was turning towards the door. But no, Kagami definitely wasn't looking for Konata because she was late, overheard the topic of the discussion her friends were having and decided to run or anything like that.

"Yuki-chan's right, that is weird."

"Au… I-It's not exactly makeup… It's more like… uhm… it's supposed to be something against the itching, but for some reason, it also had some color pigments in it…"

"Oh… that makes sense, moderns crèmes sure are amazing." Tsukasa really was easy to convince.

"But what about the… bite on the other side, Izumi-san?" Miyuki, on the other hand, wasn't

"Huh?! W-What?" She was pretty shocked. _'Kagamin~ sure had her fun there, huh?'_ With the help of a small mirror, Konata quickly found out that there was another mark on her neck that was previously hidden by her hair. "Uhh… I… I guess that was a different bug because that one doesn't itch at all…" She's getting desperate.

"It doesn't look different at all, though."

"Ehhhmmm…" There was no getting out, or so she thought. Just when she was about to give up, an electronic lifesaver came to the rescue. _'Oh my… Kagamin~, I love you even more now. Thank you for forcing me to bring my phone to school… and yay for me for actually doing it today… Wait, it even is Kagamin~."_ She answered the call from the person that obviously had no idea what was going on and totally wasn't intending to help her on purpose. "Izumi here~. Eh? Really? Right now? I'm on my way!" Konata wasn't listening to the other side and just used the whole call as an excuse to flee. Without saying a single word to Tsukasa and Miyuki, she left the classroom.

"That was…"

"… Interesting…" The two stared at each other for some time and looked rather confused, Miyuki even more than Tsukasa.

"Something's wrong here…"

"What do you mean, Yuki-chan?"

"I'm not entirely sure yet, Tsukasa-san, I have to research a few things."

"I see."

The rest of the week continued in a similar manner. Konata decided to leave the moment she had the chance to because she didn't want to get pressured again by Miyuki, who became more and more suspicious because the so-called bug bites didn't fade much over the entire week.

The weekend started and the girls planned to have a little party on Saturday as the start of their summer vacation. The party, at Konata's house, was scheduled for the evening and right now, it was only just past noon. Tsukasa woke up a little while ago, but she was already bored and so, she decided to pay her favorite friend a visit.

"Hey, Yuki-chan, I came over to play!" Tsukasa energetically entered Miyuki's room after her mother had let her into the house a minute ago.

"Oh, hello, Tsukasa-san." Miyuki was a bit surprised because she wasn't expecting her today. "What brings you here?"

"Well… I got up… became bored, wanted to see you and here I am."

"The usual, it is?"

"Yes~."

"I see, not that I mind. Actually, you could help out a bit…"

"Of course. What is it, Yuki-chan?"

"It's about Izumi-san."

"Hmm?"

"Don't you also think she's acting a bit suspicious lately? Well, even more than usual, that is."

"Oh… you mean how she always disappears when she gets the chance or how she's so secretive?"

"Yes, exactly that! There's also those 'bug bites'…"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm almost certainly sure that there were no bugs involved."

"Huh?"

"Those were hickey's, Tsukasa-san."

"Ah, that's what it was…" Tsukasa didn't understand at first and Miyuki gave her a moment to think about it. "EHHHH?!"

"Yes…"

"How did Kona-chan get those? Wait… more importantly, from whom?"

"That's what I'm also wondering… It should be Kagami-san, but that's… I can't see that right now…"

"Yeah, onee-chan definitely would've told me then… But…"

"I can't think of anything positive right now… How Izumi-san disappears all the time and how it looks like she's hiding something…"

"Y-You don't think she found someone else… right… Yuki-chan?"

"I… There's also the fact that I almost haven't seen Kagami-san at all lately… It's almost like the two are avoiding each other again…"

"No… wait, nonono, that can't be! I don't know why onee-chan isn't coming over anymore for lunch break, but she's at Kona-chan's every single day for the last two weeks… Avoiding definitely isn't the right word…"

"What? Okay… I don't understand those two anymore, Tsukasa-san…"

"And the few times I saw onee-chan, she looked really happy and full of energy when she left or came back from Kona-chan."

"But are you sure she really went to Izumi-san's place?"

"Yes, when I called onee-chan a couple days ago, I heard Kona-chan in the background."

"Hmm… What else could it be then, though? The two got closer again? To the point where they kissed? Is that really possible? Do you think they could hide something like that? Those two, who as easy to read as a picture book?"

"Well…" Tsukasa couldn't deny it. "M-Maybe it really was just a bug bite and we're just reading too much into it, Yuki-chan?"

"I, too, thought about that possibility and did a lot of research because of that, but there's no bug that would match the bite, as long as Izumi-san wasn't in Australia lately, that is."

"Could the bug have come over on its own from there and…"

"I really doubt it."

"Okay, how about that, Yuki-chan, let's go a little early to Kona-chan's place and observe them? Maybe we'll find our answer there."

"Is Kagami-san already there?"

"Uh… yeah, like I said every day. Moreover, onee-chan grabbed a few clothes after school yesterday and went to Kona-chan's place and is there ever since…"

"…" Miyuki gave up, let out a sigh and agreed to Tsukasa's plan.

…..

The two got ready, left Miyuki's place and soon enough arrived at Konata's house. On the way, the two continued their conversation, but came up with nothing logical. The most obvious was too obvious for them after all. Miyuki and Tsukasa were standing in front of the door and waited for it to open. It didn't take long and they met a familiar face.

"Hello… Oh, it's you two, welcome."

"Onee-chan?" It was Kagami and not Konata who welcomed them. "Why did you open the door?"

"Uhh… why, you ask? Kona and I were both in the kitchen and I was nearer to the door, I guess… More importantly, why are you two here already? You're a good hour early."

"We got bored~." Tsukasa easily found a fine excuse which fitted her happy go lucky nature perfectly.

"I see, sounds like you, sis."

Tsukasa and Miyuki entered the house and the girls went to the kitchen where Konata was.

"Hey there, Kona-chan, what are you doing?"

"Tsukasa, Miyuki, welcome. What brings you here? Got bored already, huh, Tsukasa?"

"Ehehe… Hmm…" She looked at the ingredients lined up at the kitchen counter. "Cabbage, tofu, scallions, shirataki noodles, sliced beef, mushrooms… enoki and shiitake and some more vegetables… Hot pot?"

"Yes, sukiyaki, to be exact."

"Uhh, nice idea, Kona-chan."

"Tsukasa, look at the amount of meat… This was obviously Kagamin~'s idea."

"Oi!"

"Oh, you're right… onee-chan sure likes her meat in hot pot."

"Hey…"

"I like it, though. It's been forever since my last hot pot."

"Yes, I also haven't had it for a long time, Kagami-san."

"See, Kagamin~, no one blames you."

"Shut up already, Kona."

"Hehe." She quickly hugged Kagami's side and she calmed down before she had the chance to get angrier at her.

"Well… I guess we should hurry up with the preparations now that the two are already here…"

Konata and Kagami continued with the preparations for the hot pot. The ingredients were mostly done and the only thing left was the broth everything's going to be cooked in. Kagami, with the help of Konata right beside her, mixed everything for it together and the two carried the ingredients to the table in the living room where a portable stove was already prepared. They put everything in the pot and now they just waited for it to be properly cooked.

"Still… seeing onee-chan cook sure is amazing."

"Well, it's not easy to raise your g-…" Konata was about to say 'girlfriend' before she realized it and stopped herself.

"Hey, it's not like it was any less work to force you to do your homework on your own…Nott that I'm done with that… not even close…"

"That's all just a motivational issue."

"Oh, you mean how I actually wanted to learn how to cook, but you, Kona, have absolutely no intention of doing your homework?"

"Exactly." She looked pretty smug for some reason.

"Don't worry, we'll get there one day."

"I don't think so."

"We'll see." Kagami's fist playfully hit Konata's head and she decided to end the discussion.

"Good friends as usual, huh?" Tsukasa just had to say it.

"Yes~."

"Sure." Both agreed and Tsukasa leaned over to Miyuki.

"See, I told you, Yuki-chan."

"Yeah…" She whispered back.

They chatted a little more and the food was soon cooked. The girls started eating and Miyuki's eyes were fixated on Konata and Kagami in front of her. She wasn't sure what to think anymore because everything led to the assumption that the two actually were closer than ever and this feeling only increased over time.

"Hey, Kagamin~, I know that you're hungry and all, but just because we bought twice the amount of beef, it doesn't mean the extra part is just for you alone…"

"Shut up." Kagami didn't agree to the statement. Instead, she took her chopsticks and just grabbed another piece of meat. She was about to eat it when Konata had other plans. Before Kagami could even react, Konata stole the meat from the chopsticks with her mouth. Kagami obviously wasn't amused. "Big mistake."

"Really?" Yes, it was. Stealing food from Kagami wasn't a very good idea. She looked at Konata for a second and it was good that the girls were eating at a low table so were already sitting on the floor because the next thing Konata realized was that she was lying on her back while Kagami was sitting on top of her once more. It already became a habit at this point.

"Hmm~, what shall I do now?"

"Kagamin~. I don't exactly mind your next step, but maybe you should look at the other side of the table first…"

"Eh?" She didn't understand at first because her mind was concentrating on something else, but then she remembered Miyuki and Tsukasa. "Oh…"

"No… please don't mind us, onee-chan." Tsukasa remembered why they came over in the first place and felt like there was a nice scene about to happen.

"No, I _do_ mind."

"Aww…" Not only Tsukasa, but also Miyuki and Konata as well were disappointed.

"Tzz…" Kagami gave up on whatever she planned and just gave Konata a little forehead flick before letting go of her again.

The girls resumed with the hop pot, but Konata and Kagami never stopped teasing, or rather flirting with each other ever since the little incident. A little poke in the side here, a small, playful push there and so on. The four were almost done eating when Miyuki, who was quietly watching them until now, finally snapped.

"Okay… I give up."

"Yuki-chan?" Tsukasa had a vague idea what's going to happen now.

"Am I really the only one who's noticing this huge tension?"

"Tension?" Konata just tilted her head, together with Kagami.

"You two, Izumi-san and Kagami-san, are acting quite obvious around each other for quite some time already. At least to any outsider, that is…"

"Obvious? About what?" Konata was trying her best to sound clueless. She obviously knew where this conversation was going and so she wanted to make the best out of the remaining few minutes she had to tease them.

"Okay… I'll say it. It's not really my right to do it, but it became so obvious that I can't take it anymore. Tsukasa-san and I are pretty sure that it's mutual and so it probably isn't that bad. Well then… it might be a bit shocking, but you, Kagami-san, are in love with Izumi-san, right?"

"Yes, I am." No hesitation or shock whatsoever.

"And you, Izumi-san, love Kagami-san, right?" She was too immersed in her speech.

"That's true, I do." Konata also gave up.

"Because of that, we think you two should get together already and make it official."

"Uh… we are already…" The two confessed that they're dating and while saying so, they wrapped their arms around each other's shoulders to prove their point.

"H-Huh?!" Tsukasa was the first to realize what just happened and was pretty shocked, but Miyuki was still so busy that it hadn't reached her head yet.

"I know it's probably hard to accept, especially for two girls, but you can be sure that Tsukasa-san and I fully support it and… hmm…" She began to realize something. "… I think you two should finally talk about a lot of things and get together… Ehm… w-wait… what was that just now?"

"O-Onee-chan, you and Kona-chan really are…"

"Yes~."

"We are."

"Ehh… wow…" Tsukasa wasn't sure what to say, but Miyuki was even worse.

"B-But… uh… what?" She absolutely wasn't expecting this turn of events and became totally lost. "H-How? When? …What?"

"C-Calm down, Yuki-chan!" Tsukasa was also surprised, but tried to calm her down.

"Is it really that surprising? I mean, just like you said, we were pretty obvious after all."

"Onee-chan, shut up!"

"Okay..."

"I-I'm sorry, but can I please get an explanation?" Miyuki finally was able to talk in sentences again.

"Explanation about what?"

"Kona-chan, shut up."

"Hehe." Konata was still having her fun. "Okay, ask away, Miyuki."

"Ehm… Where to start…? I wasn't expecting this situation and got kind of lost… Tsukasa-san, can you help me a bit?"

"Sure… First things first, when did it happen?"

"Today marks pretty much exactly two weeks."

"R-Really?" Miyuki couldn't believe it.

"Hmm… Wait, two weeks? Does that mean it happens on onee-chan's and my birthday?"

"Exactly."

"Oh… Ohh… OHH, that explains a lot!"

"Hehe." Konata and Kagami knew what Tsukasa meant.

"But why didn't you two tell us?"

"That's… a funny story actually…" Konata was thinking of a way to explain. "Kagamin~ and I found out that you two had realized our feelings for each other and tried to get us together and… well, we thought it would be fun to see how long it takes for you to find out that it actually happened."

"I guess we deserved that… more or less…"

"Wait a moment… Kona-chan, is that why you were acting so secretive lately?"

"Yeah."

"And you disappeared during lunch at school because…"

"To meet Kagamin~ of course."

"Oh… that also explains why onee-chan never showed up."

"Yeah, sorry about that, sis, but we wanted…"

"No need to explain, onee-chan."

"Thanks." She was happy that her sister didn't want to know more.

"No problem because the embarrassing part will start now." Tsukasa wasn't angry that Konata and especially Kagami, hadn't told her, but she still wanted to tease them right now as much as possible. _Slight_ S-Tendencies seem to run in the family. "About that bug bite…"

"G-Gah!" Kagami immediately felt betrayed by her own sister.

"Yeah… that sure was some nasty bug…"

"Kona-chan…" If eyes were weapons.

"Okay… fine…" She gave up. "Kagamin~, don't ever learn how to stare at one to get her way like your sister does…"

"It's frightening, right?" Kagami knew how persuasive her sister can get.

"Yes… Well… like you, or rather Miyuki(?), found out… it wasn't a bug. I got attacked… by a pervert…"

"Ehhh?! N-No way… R-Really?! Oh my god, are you okay, Kona-chan?"

"Okay, that's it, Kona… I'm going to punish you later."

"Let me introduce you to said pervert." Konata simply pointed at Kagami sitting next to her.

"Oh… Onee-chan's the pervert… I see… It's good that it wasn't anyone more suspicious." Her eyes looked a little dead.

"H-Hey, Tsukasa, if you like your sister, even if it's just a little, please change the topic…" Kagami had nothing to say against it and begged for mercy and that her little sister still had a little faith in her. Needless to say, she was already two stages beyond embarrassed.

"Of course I like you, onee-chan." Tsukasa snapped back into reality.

"Sorry, Kagamin~, I guess that was a bit much." Konata felt slightly bad.

"Just a little, Kona, but don't worry. Once we're alone, it'll all be okay again." She wasn't helping her case.

"Hey, Tsukasa, Miyuki, how does a sleepover sound?"

"Nope." Kagami didn't agree with the proposal. "It's going to be just you and me~."

"O-Okay…" Konata actually wasn't sure anymore whether she should be scared or excited right now. Maybe it was even both at the same time.

"Anyway…" Tsukasa agreed to the change of topic, to some degree at least. "Isn't it good that your theory was wrong, Yuki-chan?"

"Huh? Oh, y-yes, that's indeed true."

"What's this about?" Konata got curious.

"Yuki-chan and I were trying to understand your behavior, Kona-chan, and she had a really interesting, but totally wrong theory. She thought that Kona-chan found someone other than onee-chan and secretly met them. Onee-chan found out and it got awkward between you two and so onee-chan decided to avoid us."

"Wow…" Konata and Kagami were speechless.

"I-I'm so embarrassed…" Miyuki turned completely red.

"Being so wrong… That's not very wiki-… ehm, Miyuki-like…"

"I-I'M so sorry…"

"Was it really that absurd to just assume that we _just_ finally got together? I mean Tsukasa knew that I like Kona and you, Miyuki, were also pretty confident, weren't you?"

"To be fair…" Tsukasa wanted to defend her. "We did think about it, but came to the conclusion that it was very unlikely because we were sure that there was absolutely no way that you two would've been able to hide it… like at all…"

"Uhh…" Kagami had nothing to say back.

"Well… she may have a point there, Kagamin~…"

"Yeah… I actually wasn't expecting it to last two weeks."

"Me neither."

"You're forgiven, Miyuki."

"T-Thank you."

"Poor Yuki-chan…"

"She got more than she was expecting and we fried her brain, huh?"

"It'll recover. Well then… I'm not sure if I already said it, but Kona-chan, onee-chan, congratulation on finally getting together."

"Yes, I'm also happy for you two that you finally sorted it out and made it happen."

"Thank you."

"Yes, we're also happy." Kagami and Konata were honestly happy and grateful for having such great, understanding and supportive friends.

"Okay… Now Yuki-chan and I want to know everything… and I mean every single thing that happened."

"I guess we owe them that much, huh?"

"You're probably right, Kona…"

"By the way, before we continue, is it even alright to talk about all that in the living room? Isn't your father here, Kona-chan?"

"Nah, he's out on a date."

"Ehhh?!"

"Just ignore her, sis… He's on a meeting with his editor for the light novel he's working on."

"Oh, I see…"

"Wait, how do you even know that, Kagamin~?"

"He asked me for advice on something he wanted to write shortly before he left…"

"Oh, right… you were a fan. Did you help him?"

"More like I kicked him out of the door…"

"You've gotten pretty good at handling him, huh?" No trace of sympathy for her father was found.

"Is that really fine… I mean it's his house…" Miyuki looked a bit troubled.

"Yeah… he takes something like this as a reward." Konata knows her father well.

"She's right, Miyuki, you can't apply common sense to him." Kagami had gotten pretty used to the Izumi house with all the time she spends there.

"Oh… I see…"

Konata and Kagami got back to the topic and told them everything that happened. Well, they left 'some' details out here and there, but were pretty honest for the most part. From how their feelings changed over time by spending more and more time together to the actual confession two weeks ago. Miyuki and Tsukasa were intently listening to the story the whole time. They guessed the most already, but it was still interesting. After they told them everything, the girls kept chatting about various things, even though the main theme stayed the same for most of the time. It soon became rather late and Miyuki, together with Tsukasa decided to go home for today. Kagami obviously had no intention of leaving and Konata obviously had nothing against that.

….

The following day, around noon once more. Tsukasa had just finished her 'breakfast' and was slowly, but surely, getting bored again, which means it was time for Miyuki. She got ready, left her house and arrived at Miyuki's place soon enough.

"I'm here again, Yuki-chan!" She was energetic as ever.

"Welcome, please come in, Tsukasa-san." Miyuki welcomed her in and both went to her room.

"Yesterday sure was interesting, huh?

"It really was. I wasn't expecting it at all."

"Yes, confused Yuki-chan was really cute~."

"T-That's not… P-Please don't do that… I'm embarrassed enough already…"

"Ehehe."

"While it was shocking, I'm really happy for them."

"Absolutely, I really like seeing onee-chan so happy and cheerful when she's together with Kona-chan."

"It's a bit weird, though…"

"What is?" Tsukasa tilted her head questioningly because she didn't understand.

"Well… It's kind of hard to put into words actually…"

"Hmm?" She only tilted her head more.

"… Izumi-sand and Kagami-san said that the trigger for them to fall in love with each other was that they spend so much time with each other…"

"Yes."

"They were together almost every day, cooked together, watched movies and played games together, went out together, had sleepovers all the time and much more…"

"Yeah?"

"Ignoring a few details… H-How is that any different from what we do?" Miyuki turned a bit red while explaining because of the, in her eyes, rather embarrassing topic.

"Huh? W-What? Uhh…" Tsukasa had no answer available.

"I… I don't want to imply anything…"

"O-Okay…"

"It's just that I'm really curious about it… You can't really learn about love from books or the internet and so it's really hard to grasp."

"I-I see… I can't say I'm not curious because I really am, but… I don't think I'm the right person to ask… After all, I never was in love before. Yes, I helped onee-chan before, but to be honest, I have no idea… Do I like boys? Girls? Both? None of them? Even that I haven't found out…" Tsukasa looked a bit troubled while admitting it, but she felt comfortable enough around Miyuki to let her know.

"T-That's reassuring… I guess we're the same then."

"Really? I mean, yes, I like you, Yuki-chan, a lot to be exact, but… I don't think it's the same as Kona-chan and onee-chan… probably…"

"Yes, I feel the same… The two really give off a different vibe… I wonder what's the difference between them and us…"

"I could say that maybe time will help, but I have no idea…"

"Hmm…" Miyuki seemed lost in thoughts.

"Yuki-chan… Do you… Do you want to fall in love… w-with me?" Tsukasa wasn't sure where this conversation was heading, but that was the only thing she could think of.

"Uhh…" Miyuki herself couldn't give a precise answer and started thinking about it with a complex look on her face. "I-I'm not sure… I don't think I want it… like in forcing it to happen, but… if it would happen for whatever reason… I don't think I would mind…"

"I… I see…" She had absolutely nothing to reply.

"Is that bad?" Miyuki sounded strangely serious while looking like she thought that she had done something wrong.

"N-No, it really isn't." Tsukasa couldn't bear to say anything against it, not that she had any reasons for it in the first place. The slightly insecure Miyuki in front of her was rather captivating in her eyes. Tsukasa was interested in what she said, but something was missing on both sides. While feeling so, the conversation that was reaching a dead end, came to a stop.

"…"

"…"

The room fell silent and the two looked away from each other. Both had no idea what exactly just happened, but it became rather awkward. Miyuki and Tsukasa helped Konata and Kagami the best they could, but it was completely based on pure theory of what they thought could be helpful. In the first place, Tsukasa only found out that her sister was in love after she told her personally and Miyuki got suspicious because she'd read a book before that resembled the situation. Neither of them found out through experience. Doing their best in helping Konata and Kagami and watching how their romance progressed, obviously made them even more interested in the whole love 'thing' that's totally unknown to the two of them until now. Wanting to speak about it was only a natural thing to do. Although, projecting the behavior of the newly founded couple on their own maybe was a bit much. Comparing Miyuki and Tsukasa with Konata and Kagami, even though there were a lot of similarities on the surface, was, at best, early. Both never thought about how they feel about it the other person besides being best friends. Now that the topic came up, though, the two became a bit, or rather a lot, confused about their current relationship. Is there more or is there not? They had no idea right now, but now became aware of this question. The most prominent thing at the moment was the awkwardness and embarrassment and so, they decided to silently postpone this matter altogether.

…

A few minutes passed before Tsukasa finally had an idea to change the topic.

"H-Hey, Yuki-chan, there's this… chocolate mousse I wanted to try making on my own… How about it?"

"C-Chocolate mousse? Sounds delicious… I wonder if I can be of any help."

"I'm sure you'll be."

"Okay… well then, let's try our best."

"Yes~."

The two decided to try their luck with the mousse, went to the kitchen and started preparing the ingredients. Luckily, they already had everything they needed and didn't have to go shopping first. Dark chocolate, eggs, whipping cream and sugar. Not much was needed in the first place.

"With what do we start, Tsukasa-san?"

"Hmm… I guess with melting the chocolate. It takes a bit of time after all."

"Okay." The two started to simmer a pot of water and placed a bowl with chocolate on top of it in order to slowly melt it with the steam. While waiting, Miyuki and Tsukasa got a visitor.

"Oh my~, what are you two up to?" Yukari, Miyuki's mother came into the kitchen and noticed the two girls.

"Hello."

"Hello, mom, where have you been all day?"

"I accidentally took a nap in the garden. The sun sure feels nice~. Oh, is that chocolate?" She's quite carefree.

"I see… Yes, we're trying to make chocolate mousse."

"Sounds good, mom also gets something, right?"

"We first have to have success in making it, mom."

"It's you two, of course it'll work out."

"Ehehe, your mom got a lot of sweets from us already, after all, Yuki-chan."

"Yes~, and I'll welcome many more to come."

"Oh, that'll be an easy request."

"Great! Oh, by the way, Miyuki…"

"Yes, mom?"

"I have some slightly bad news… It looks like we have to cancel our trip to the beach… I'll have to accompany your dad somewhere around then."

"Oh, that's too bad… Wait, what about the beach house? The rent's already paid, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess we won't be getting the money back on such a short notice…"

"Hmm… Does that mean it's still reserved for us?"

"Yes… why?"

"I think I might have a solution then. Tsukasa-san, how does a trip to the beach sounds? Kagami-san and Izumi-san should also come. It's more than enough place there."

"What?! Really? Are you sure? I would love to go!" Tsukasa became instantly excited.

"Yes. Well, if mom allows it, that is."

"Sure, why not? Might as well use it when it's available."

"Yay!"

"Thank you, mom."

"Well then, I'll be taking another nap somewhere. Please find and wake me up when the chocolate mousse is ready. Oh, and I want an extra-large helping."

"Of course!"

Yukari disappeared somewhere to take a nap and the girls finished the mousse. They placed it in the fridge in order to let it cool down and went back to Miyuki's room for the meantime. Once there, Tsukasa immediately called her mother to ask for permission and Kagami to tell her the news. Needless to say, Kagami, and Konata right next to her on the phone, wholeheartedly agreed to the trip. With that, the first activity for their summer vacation was decided on.

* * *

.

Well… that happened, I guess. Maybe the fever really was worse than I thought. Good thing I'm fully recovered already...

I wanted to make a Miyuki and Tsukasa centered chapter and I thought I might as well tease a bit of a possible Miyuki x Tsukasa side story while planning and this happened. I really don't know what I was doing and was a little shocked when I reread it the next day (Kind of like 'Wait... what?'). Well, I kind of liked it and so, here we are. Though, I'm not sure how much it'll be expanded because I didn't plan to do so such a big step. Tsukasa and Miyuki are quite cute, though… (But I maybe nuked their personalities a bit in this chapter…)

Konata and Kagami are an idiot couple as usual and poor Miyuki missed her time to shine… Nobody could've seen that coming… :) (Except maybe everyone…)

Next chapter will, obviously, be a trip to the beach (because I couldn't think of something better…) and maybe more. I'm not sure yet if I make one big summer chapter or two small ones or whatever… Probably out somewhere in December… Summer chapter in winter, don't I make sense?


	25. Summer trip

"So… I actually like traveling by train because it's relaxing, but is that much really necessary just to visit the beach?" Kagami finally complained after riding a train for over three hours with the end of it not even in sight. The girls currently were in a closed, four-person cabin in the first-class section of the train they were riding. Konata, together with Kagami was sitting on one side and Miyuki next to Tsukasa on the opposite facing seats. The cabin was divided a by a table, which was holding a ton of snacks, drinks, and games right now. Konata had just won the fifth game of old maid in a row and so Kagami wanted to complain a little.

"I would've been fine with a local beach as well, but my parents wanted to go there because it's nice and really quiet there."

"I see, your parents, huh?" Kagami acknowledged Miyuki's answer before noticing something. "Huh, a quiet beach? Such a thing exists? Wait a moment… Judging by the included first class train ride… Don't tell me it's some kind of VIP beach?!"

"Well… no, it's not a 'VIP' beach…" Miyuki averted her eyes for some reason.

"That's good."

"Not so fast there, Kagamin~, I can feel the 'but' already."

"I-It really isn't a VIP beach… It's quiet because, well… the beach near the vacation house is… It's a private beach."

"P-Private beach… wow…"

"As expected of Miyuki."

"… Stupid rich people…" Kagami went from her initial surprise to jealousy and muttered some rude words that only Konata could her, who just smiled in response.

"Still, a private beach, huh? That kind of ruins a lot of things I planned…"

"What do you mean, Kona-chan?"

"For example, dramatically shouting 'She's mine!' when some random mob character tries to pick up Kagamin~."

"Wow, that's the first time I heard 'mob character' in an actual conversation… Wait! You were actually planning on doing that?!"

"I'm only stating the truth."

"Well, yeah, but that's still embarrassing… Then again, it's not like anyone ever tried to pick up any of us…"

"Ack! That's true…" Konata noticed the flaw in her plan. "But people often get popular once they're taken, right?"

"Just shut up, okay?"

"Okay… On the other hand, you getting hit on is… kind of…"

"That's more to my liking, Kona." Kagami was pleased with the more honest answer.

"A-Anyway, private beach means I get Kagamin~ and her bikini all for me alone… I think I can live with that."

"Good for you, I guess… probably… What about you, Kona? What'll you be wearing?"

"Oho, someone's getting excited."

"…"

"Hehe."

"By the way, if you're going with the elementary swimsuit again, I'll think about a breakup."

"Huh? W-What?! No way…" Konata turned pale and her cheeky mood was gone.

"H-Hey, Kona, t-that was supposed to be a joke… Please cheer up! Okay, I probably would get a little mad and would've ignored you a bit on the beach, but I would never break up with you, especially not over something like that!"

"Really? I'm glad… But be at ease, Kagamin~, I wouldn't wear that a second time." She recovered a little and changed her attention to the little sister while whispering something by leaning over the table, which separated the two. "H-Hey, Tsukasa… do you have some time to spare after we arrived to go shopping with me? I may need to buy a new bikini…"

"K-Kona-chan…" Tsukasa wasn't sure how to react and Kagami only sighed. She obviously heard everything, but decided to stay silent. "Sure…"

"Thank you very much." Konata sat back down on her seat.

"Being in a relationship isn't as easy as it seems, is it?" Miyuki entered the, slightly derailed, conversation. "Misunderstands sure can get troublesome."

"That's nothing compared to the misunderstandings from before we got together!" Konata and Kagami immediately answered at the same time. The two then looked at each other and soon started laughing.

"It's useless to worry about them, Yuki-chan. They're the same as always after all."

"Ehehe…"

"Such a happy go lucky couple."

"Hearing that from Tsukasa is a bit…"

"Yeah…"

"Ehh?!" She was shocked by the remark of the two for some reason.

The girls kept chatting for some time, but soon only two were left. Miyuki and Tsukasa had fallen asleep at some point and Konata changed the topic to something that caught her interest.

"Hey, Kagamin~, those two…" She looked at the other side of the table where two girls were sleeping peacefully. While unconsciously leaning onto each other, Tsukasa's head was resting on Miyuki's shoulder and her own head was placed on Tsukasa's. Their breathing was slow and gentle and both looked extremely comfortable. "I might be imagining things, but… don't they look a little like us?"

"Haa…" She only let out a big sigh in response.

"Something wrong?"

"That's a bit… complicated."

"Uh, I already like where this is going." Konata's eyes started sparkling.

"Well…" Kagami told her what happened between Miyuki and Tsukasa last week. She knew about the little heated discussion about love and other things from her little sister, who told her about it a couple days ago.

"Heeh~… interesting… I wasn't expecting that."

"Yep, I also was a bit surprised."

"Maybe not surprised, but…"

"I get what you mean…" Kagami also took another glance at the two. "So, what's your cunning master plan, Kona?"

"Plan? For what?"

"You don't want to bring them together like they tried with us?"

"Hmm… It's true that they would make a nice couple, there's a good chemistry between them, but if anything, it's too early for that. According to your story, they just became slightly conscious of each other. If we were to play cupid now, it also could go in a wrong direction very easy. If these two started their help earlier before I realized what was going on, I don't know how I would've reacted... Even more so on your side, right? What would have happened if someone said you're in love just after you noticed something's going on you didn't understand at this point?"

"Yes, that's very true… Even after I understood, I had a hard time…"

"Well then, Kagamin~, let's just watch them from the sidelines and see what happens. A little innocent push in the right direction here and there is probably fine, but let's not interfere more than that. For now at least, that is."

"You sure can be mature if you want to, huh? You could be really popular if you regularly act like that…"

"Nah, no need for that. The person I wanted already fell for the normal me."

"That person also probably wouldn't mind if you act like that more often."

"It's just a little sad that said person is a bit greedy, but I still love her."

"Weird, I heard that that person thinks exactly the same about you… word for word."

"Is that so? You're right, that's rather weird."

"Looks like they're a pretty compatible couple, aren't they, Kona?"

"Yes, people may say we're a bit of an 'idiot couple', but I wouldn't want it any different."

"So, you were aware of it?"

"Of course I am, Kagamin~. After all, I'm 30% the reason of it…"

"… Wait, what?! 30%... You?!"

"What? Do you think it's even 40% or what? There's no way that it's so high…"

"Kona?"

"Yes?"

"…" Kagami was about to say something, but after looking at Konata's huge grin, she decided to just sigh and gave up. "Haa… It's a good thing that it's just us in this cabin."

"Oh, are we embarrassed?"

"That has nothing to do with it… Would you want other people to hear our stupid conversation?"

"Hmm… Fist class sure is amazing."

"It's good that you understand. Let's copy Miyuki and Tsukasa and sleep a little on our own. Looks like it'll still take some time before we arrive."

"You just want an excuse to cuddle, don't you?"

"If you know that much, then just stay silent…"

"Wow, you're surprisingly easy to tease today… Ehm, I mean that I just wanted to say that you don't need an excuse… or even a reason to do that."

"…"

"Sorry, I'm just admiring how you can be shy and assertive at the same time, Kagamin~. Such a complex personality."

"Just how long are you going to continue this conversation?" She became a bit impatient and Konata finally understood that she was only hurting herself. She shut up, inched closer to Kagami and, just like the two in front of them, put her head on Kagami's shoulder.

"Happy now?" Konata never got a spoken response. Instead, Kagami turned her head to the side, lightly kissed Konata's head, or rather hair and then also leaned with her weight against the smaller girl beside her.

….

Almost an entire hour passed and sadly, the cuddling had to come to an end now. The girls were about to reach their destination and had to pick up their belongings. The four woke up almost simultaneously and all let out a yawn before looking around. Konata and Kagami were obviously unaffected by the position they were in because being intimate was more than natural already for them, for quite some time even. Tsukasa and Miyuki weren't acting much different, though. They may exchanged a short, embarrassed glance, but nothing much happened. The event from last week was more or less forgotten and the two just innocently enjoyed each other's company without any hidden thoughts.

The train stopped, the girls got out and after a short bus ride, they were almost at their destination. The four took a bus because Kagami had something against using the shuttle service they would've normally used. From the bus stop, it was only a short walk before they arrive at the beach house or rather…

"W-What's up with this villa?! Kagami went through another culture shock as she looked with wide eyes at the place where they're going to stay for the next week. It was a two-story tall building and its width easily exceeding three normal houses.

"W-Well… Let's just enjoy this opportunity, onee-chan…" Tsukasa tried to calm her down and the girls went inside for the time being.

"Okay then… I think we first should choose our rooms. Actually, there are more rooms than people her… so feel free to choose the one you like the most." Miyuki briefly explained the room situation to everyone.

"More rooms than people… tzz…"

"Calm down, Kagamin~. Miyuki, Tsukasa, feel free to choose one first. Kagamin~ and I are going to share a room anyway."

"Do we?"

"You don't want to?"

"Ehh… What Kona said…" Kagami readily agreed. She wasn't even sure why she asked in the first place.

"O-kay…" Miyuki and Tsukasa briefly looked at each other, but had nothing more to say and went upstairs to choose a room each. Konata and Kagami followed a little later, but settled for the first room with a comfortable looking bed, which wasn't a hard task in such a luxurious villa. The other two each took a room right next to each other and after unpacking their stuff and settling down a little, the girls met up in the living room. They sat down on one of the sofas there and started planning various things.

"So, how about Tsukasa and I are going shopping first and then we take it easy on the beach for the rest of the day?"

"Oh, why do you want to go shopping, Kona?"

"Why? For food, of course. Well, except you want to catch something to eat in the sea… Personally, I don't ever want to even touch a fishing rod ever again in my life…" Some trauma came back to the surface.

"Oh… I see… Y-Yes, that's true." Kagami knew that the main reason for the shopping trip is the swimsuit incident from earlier today, but Konata splendidly talked her way out of getting teased before Kagami even had the chance to try.

"Sure, let's go, Kona-chan! It's going to be fun." Tsukasa was in awfully high spirits for some reason. Seeing that, Kagami's lips changed into a small grin.

"Well then, have fun, you two~." She seemed to have noticed something Konata overlooked and was delighted by it.

Tsukasa and Konata left, leaving Miyuki and Kagami alone behind.

"Is there anything you want to do until they come back, Kagami-san?"

"Hmm…"

"I mean, it's probably going to take a few hours before they'll come back…"

"Oh, so you've noticed it, too, Miyuki? Kona's mistake, that is?"

"Indeed. After all, I went through it a lot in the last couple months."

"Somehow… I'm sorry about that…"

"No, I'm having a lot of fun with your little sister. That much is totally fine."

"I see, I'm happy to hear that and thank you."

"Hmm?"

"Well, ever since I'm spending so much, or rather all my time with Kona, I feel like neglecting Tsukasa a bit, but you…"

"Kagami-san, I'm not just spending time with her because she felt a little lonely. It wasn't a lie and I genuinely like spending time with her. More than you probably can imagine…"

"Ehm… Miyuki… I'm going out with a girl I fell for mainly thanks to how much I like spending time with her and being around her. I think more than qualified to understand…"

"Oh… yes… I'm s-sorry… looks like I was a bit too impulsive there."

"Don't worry about it and I really didn't want to imply anything. Just a big sister worrying about her little one and thanking you for being such a good friend."

"That's what you meant… I understand." The two calmed down a bit while feeling a little awkward.

"A-Anyway… getting back to the topic… Is there anything interesting nearby?"

"Well, we could take a first look at the _beach_ , you can't really see it from her after all."

"Hmm… Sure, sounds good."

"Great… but please don't be too shocked, okay?"

"Eh? Why?" She tilted her a little.

"You'll see soon enough…" Miyuki guided her towards the point from where they could see the beach and stopped. Kagami looked around and then she froze.

"S-Seriously?"

"Yes…"

"Damn rich people…" She didn't even try to hide it."

"I'm sorry…"

"…"

…

Three and a half hours passed and the shopping trip was finally over.

"Sooo hooot~, soo tired~, soo…" Konata staggered into the living room and crashed face first onto the sofa without even finishing her complaints. The shopping, together with the summer heat seemed to have taken quite a toll on her.

"Good work." Kagami walked up to her and offered something cold to drink.

"Thanks…" She gladly accepted the glass and gulped it down in one go.

"Feeling better now?"

"Yeah… I'm almost back to live…"

"I see, how was shopping with Tsukasa?" Kagami had a hard time with suppressing her grin.

"That's… How could I forget about it? I mean, I saw what happened with Miyuki in Yokohama… How Tsukasa went on a shopping rampage…"

"Hehe. So, found at least a new bikini?"

"Yes, after trying on every single one and combining whatever she found, I finally found on, or rather, Tsukasa and I agreed on one… You knew from the very beginning, huh, Kagamin~?"

"Yep~."

"Why didn't you say anything then? Wait… no, nevermind… don't answer that. I should've been just honest and could've gone with you…"

"Yes, I would've appreciated that very much."

"Anyway… What done is done, anything happened with Miyuki while we were gone?"

"Well… I learned one or two interesting things… Oh, and I started to hate her a little more. Ehm, no, I mean, how rich her family is…"

"Huh? What made you jealous this time? You're out of it all day already because of it."

"I-I'm not jea- ah, whatever… Miyuki and I went to the beach together and… wait, can you even call _that_ a beach…?"

"I need context…"

"Just showing would probably be easier." Kagami grabbed Konata's hand and the two went behind the house and walked towards where the beach is located. They met up with the other two there, who directly went there when Tsukasa came back from the shopping. Seeing what Kagami meant, Konata's eyes grew wide in shock.

"Seriously?"

"It is as you can see…"

"… Damn rich people…" Konata couldn't help it.

"I know, right?!" Kagami made a few big nods.

"I-I'm sorry…" Miyuki's head hung low once more.

"This beach is amazingly beautiful, isn't it, Kona-chan?"

"… Ah, yes… it is…"

The _beach_ the girls were looking really was stunning. No, the lagoon they were looking at, was probably a more fitting description. What comes to view after leaving the villa and walking a bit downhill towards the direction of the sea, is a beautiful and secluded lagoon. Edged into a relatively small cliff, there was a lake filled with crystal-clear, blue water, which was connected with the sea by only a small hole in said cliff. In front of the water was a big area of almost snow white sand, making the whole place more like something from the Caribbean.

"We're still in Japan… right?" Konata had some serious doubts.

"Where else should we be?"

"Well, the scenery doesn't match at all and now that I think about it… It did feel like we passed through some kind of portal earlier… maybe this place here is actually located in a different world and…"

"Kona?" Kagami stopped her.

"Hmm?"

"I'll be putting you on an anime ban for the next month."

"Eh? No way… You can't do that!"

"Shall I extend it to a whole season?"

"Noo! Anything, but that! I'll be a good again, but please spare me, mom!"

"I give up…" Kagami sighed.

"No ban then?"

"I'll settle for six weeks."

"W-Wha-?!"

"Kona-chan… you should better stop…" Tsukasa tried to help her a bit.

"Okay… six weeks with manga only… Love sure can be painful…"

"…" The twins and even Miyuki facepalmed. The conversation came to an end, which ensured Kagami's sanity and Konata's safety, and the girls silently enjoyed the scenery. The shopping trip earlier consumed quite some time and so the swimming, together with other beach activities had to be postponed to the next day. The girls also became a little hungry and decided to head back to the villa in order to make dinner. Konata absolutely wasn't searching for fluctuations in the air that could hint an invisible portal on the way back to prove her theory and Kagami even less so hit the back of Konata's head afterward. Such a thing never happened.

…..

The four arrived in the kitchen and started preparing the food right away. Miyuki and Tsukasa were responsible for the vegetables, Konata took care of the fish, they're at the sea after all and Kagami prepared the rice by washing it. Once it was clean, she put it in the rice cooker and while shedding a little tear, as usual, she pressed the start button. While looking extremely disappointed, mainly at herself and also dejected, Kagami turned away from the hated machine and offered Konata some help.

They finished dinner without any incidents and after each taking a bath, which went by quite fast thanks to having two separate bathrooms, the girls met up in the living room again.

"This place is so amazing! Thank you for inviting us, Yuki-chan."

"Yes, I'm very happy that I was able to share it with all of you, even though it wasn't planned." Miyuki wasn't that sad that her parents had to cancel the family trip.

"Almost too amazing… if you ask me…" Kagami was still overwhelmed by everything. While saying so, she unconsciously grabbed Konata's hand for some reason. It happened a lot already on this day.

"Don't be like that, Kagamin~. Well… I have to agree that the beach is a bit much, though. It's almost like it's… out of this world." Konata couldn't help it.

"Seven weeks."

"Totally worth it."

"You know, I'm still not really sure if onee-chan's good at handling Kona-chan or not…"

"I'm not even sure what they're talking about, Tsukasa-san…" Miyuki's answer didn't help much.

"In Kagamin~'s eyes, she isn't, but if you ask me, she's WAY too good."

"Exactly what Kona said." Kagami easily agreed with her explanation. Tsukasa had intended to only ask Miyuki next to her, but the party in question had good ears.

"I-Is that so?"

"You two sure are complicated."

"Ehehe."

"Kona, I'm pretty sure that wasn't a compliment…"

"So mean~." She started pouting a little.

Their lively chatting continued for some time, but slight drowsiness slowly started to appear, for two people at least.

"… It sure has gotten late… I think I'll go to sleep…"

"Yeah… I'm also tired… I'll come with you, Yuki-chan. Good night, onee-chan, Kona-chan." Miyuki and Tsukasa then went to their rooms.

"So, now that the children are asleep, the parents can party, huh?"

"… So many things I want to retort to…"

"Not good?"

"Shut up, Kona."

"Fine…"

"Well, what do you want to do? I'm a bit tired, too, though… Not directly sleepy, but exhausted or something…"

"Hmm… Want to test how the bed in our room performs? … Wait, that sounded kind of dirty now, didn't it?"

"I'm glad you noticed."

"Sorry…" Konata apologized and Kagami stood up from the sofa. She was about to leave the living room when she turned her head around.

"Are you coming or what?"

"Ehh?! W-Wait… ehh?!" Konata overloaded.

"Just cuddling at most, idiot."

"Aww… Wait, I'm totally fine with that." Konata was disappointed for a second, but immediately realized that something good happened.

"Just what were you imagining, pervert?" Kagami's wink didn't help her accusation at all.

"Oi, you totally did that on purpose! Geez, your suggestiveness is bad for my heart…"

"Welcome to my world, Kona~."

"I should've seen that one coming… Maybe it's because it's late already…"

"Also tired, huh? So, bed or what?"

"Don't be so pushy~. A girl should be more reserved."

"Kona?"

"Yes, I'm coming!" She finally started following Kagami towards their room.

"Finally."

"P-Please be gentle, o-okay~?" Konata tried to sound bashful, but it didn't work at all.

"No."

"Hardcore cuddling, huh? Wow… even that sounds kind of dirty…"

"…"

"Yes, I'll shut up for now."

"Good girl."

The two entered their room and closed the door behind them. Konata walked towards the bed, but made a big mistake while doing so. She let Kagami enter her blind spot and before Konata even knew it, she arrived on the bed earlier than expected because she was thrown there. The bed was pretty comfortable and so it wasn't that bad, but she still had no time to relax because Kagami already landed on top of her, with her face only a couple inches above Konata's.

"So forceful today~. It's hardcore cuddling after all, huh?"

"Hmm…" Kagami brought her face closer to Konata's.

"S-Seriously?"

"Nope~."

"You are such a tease!"

"I don't want to hear that from you, Kona."

"Who's on top of who right now again? Furthermore, you're pretty pushy today… I mean more than usual… I'm not complaining, far from it, but is something wrong? Homesick? You didn't act so clingy in Yokohama, though… Then again, our relationship was a little different, huh?"

"Homesick, huh? No, that's not really it… More like it's kind of hard for me to calm down in this environment or so…"

"Ah, I see… It is kind of overwhelming here. That makes you pushy?"

"Well, as exhausting as you are on your own, Kona…" Kagami started her explanation while crashing down on her beneath her on the bed while burying her face in Konata's neck before continuing with a now muffled voice. "… You're still the person I feel the calmest around…"

"What a spoiled kid you are…" Konata playfully complained, but then wrapped one arm around Kagami's waist and patted her head with the other one.

"Sorry…" She only buried her face deeper into Konata's shoulder.

"Nono, I quite like the gap. We should consider traveling with Miyuki more often."

"… Shut up…"

"Oh, you can act spoiled whenever you want, if that's the problem, though."

"… Shut up."

"Only if we're alone?"

"Shut… up."

"What if I also act spoiled? Will that help?"

"Will you listen to me already?! More importantly… 'if' and 'a little'? What?"

"Oh, look who's feeling better again."

"… Idiot." She really was better.

"You're welcome."

"Yes… Thank you, Kona."

The two stayed a couple minutes in the embrace until Konata spoke up again.

"Ehm… Kagamin~?"

"Hmm?"

"How do I say that delicately now…? Well, like I can do 'delicately'… So, as much as I like your closeness, I really do, and not just because I get to feel various soft and nice feeling parts of your body without feeling guilty… The weight of your body on top of me, which absolutely isn't much, but still the weight of a human body, that naturally has some weight attached to it… even in your case… Is slowly getting a little…"

"…" Kagami didn't answer. Instead, she not-so-gently flicked Konata's forehead before sliding down beside her on the bed.

"Air…" She took a few deep breaths.

"I think I should punish you after all…"

"Tomorrow, okay?"

"Fine…"

"After getting the much-awaited treat I'm looking forward to tomorrow, I'm willing to take everything afterward."

"What treat?"

"Kagamin~ in a bikini of course."

"Ah, the perverted old man is back."

"He was never gone."

"Are you really forward to it that much?"

"Of course I am! Shouldn't it be weirder if I, your girlfriend, wouldn't?"

"W-Well…"

"Sure, leaving justice aside, my main selling point is my overwhelming charm, but you're more than just _nice_ to look at.

"Quite the ego." Kagami looked at Konata from the side and then gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "Nope, there's more than just your ego. You're plenty attractive yourself in my eyes."

"I-I'm happy to hear it…" Konata wasn't expecting this counter attack and turned slightly red.

"Thanks for _that_ treat." Bashful Konata is one of Kagami's favorites.

"Haa… Okay, I'll let it slide because I'll be much worse tomorrow."

"Great… Anyway… How about we get some sleep now?"

"So… really no hardcore cuddling?"

"Scratch the hardcore part and we can talk, Kona."

"Well, I'll take what I get."

"Not like that."

"I'm sorry! Please let us cuddle, o great Kagami-sama."

"Wow, it actually got worse… Whatever, I think I'll stop now because we're both only hindering ourselves…"

"That's great to hear. Thank you very much, Kagamin~?"

"Sure…" Kagami gave up, wrapped her arms around Konata and pulled her close. "Good night, Kona."

"Night." With that, the first day of their summer trip ended.

…..

The next morning, Konata and Kagami were sleeping in the usual position. Both lying on their sides, Konata at the front while Kagami was hugging her from behind with her arms wrapped around the waist of the girl in front of her.

"You know, I read something pretty interesting a while ago, Kagamin~."

"Morning… What is it…?" She was still a little sleepy.

"The article said that the person who acts as the big spoon is the one who's usually in charge in the relationship…"

"Ah, that…" Kagami gave her a squeeze from behind before moving her head a little to whisper directly into Konata's ear. "I know that already."

"…"

\- They got up and went to the kitchen for breakfast.

….

"Oh, Kagami-san, Izumi-san, good morning." Miyuki greeted them when she saw the two entering the kitchen.

"Morning."

"Also roaming for breakfast?"

"Yes, I was getting a little hungry." Miyuki nodded at Konata's question.

"My sister's still asleep, huh?"

"Well, I knocked a few times on her door earlier and even got an answer, but I think she fell asleep again."

"Ahaha… that's just how she is…" Kagami knew perfectly well that it's impossible to wake up Tsukasa in the morning unless something important happens.

"I'm aware of it…" Miyuki's face was full of sympathy and understanding towards for Kagami. With Tsukasa staying at her place pretty often lately, she was well accustomed to it.

"She'll probably up in an hour or rather two."

"More like three."

"Oh, can I try it for a change? I have so many ideas prepared for waking up Kagamin~ when she doesn't want to get up, but too scared to try because I would be killed then…" Konata's face only looked a little scary right now.

"And you think my little sister is the right person then?"

"Sure, she's able to take it."

"I'm not?"

"Exactly!"

"I really don't think…" Kagami wanted to voice her doubts, but Konata was already gone. "I have a really bad feeling about that…"

"I wonder what Izumi-san wants to try."

Three minutes passed and Konata, together with Tsukasa came back to the kitchen. Konata looked pretty satisfied, Tsukasa, on the other hand, looked rather tired, but it was hard to tell if it was Konata's fault or because she just woke up.

"We're back~."

"Good morning… Yuki-chan… onee-chan…"

"How is that even possible?"

"Kona, w-what did you do to my sister?!"

"Trade secret~."

"I'm even more scared now… Tsukasa, what happened?"

"Huh? Ehm… n-nothing… nothing happened…"

"Kona!"

"I didn't do anything susp-… ba-… uh… I did nothing that should worry you…?" She wasn't very convincing.

"I don't know why, but after said I shouldn't worry, I started worrying a lot…"

"You don't have to, onee-chan… It really wasn't anything… uhm… It was totally safe, onee-chan… I'm hungry… what about breakfast?"

"Of course, that's why I woke you up after all." Konata welcomed the change of topic.

"I'm not happy with this!" Kagami's complaint reached no one.

The mood at the following breakfast was a bit awkward, but the topic of interest soon changed towards the beach. The girls started planning the day at the and Kona and Tsukasa got very excited. For entirely different reasons, though. They started to get ready and decided to meet up at the beach later on.

…

Half an hour passed and all four were at the beach and more importantly, everyone was in their bikinis.

Miyuki was wearing a completely white one and as a highlight, she had a piece of cloth wrapped around her waist. Technically speaking, the piece would be more effective around her chest, because the bikini top was working pretty hard and could use some assistance.

Tsukasa's bikini was light blue with white polka dots and many frills around her chest and hip.

Kagami was wearing a greenish-turquoise and white striped bikini. The top had a little black ribbon between the cups and the bottom was tied together at the sides of her hip.

Konata had mixed hers a little more. She was wearing a multicolored and fluffy looking top together with red shorts. The fluffiness of the top came from the extra layer of cloth sewn on top in order to keep the attention away a little from the slightly lacking chest department.

Tsukasa had immediately grabbed Miyuki's hand and dragged her towards the water, leaving Konata and Kagami alone behind.

"Miyuki sure is unfair… money and looks…"

"Good thing it was you who said it, Kagamin~."

"Sorry, but I was your line of sight when you saw her in the bikini, don't try to act innocent."

"I was just cheering for the fabric of Miyuki's bikini top. Seeing it desperately doing its best in order not to tear up, made me a bit emotional."

"Oh, is that what it was?" She wasn't even trying to hide her sarcasm.

"Well, I have to admit that she's rather eye-catching, but if anything, it's calming me down when I look at her…"

"Hmm?"

"Truth to be told, I'm getting rather excited by just glancing at a certain someone."

"Yeah, Tsukasa looks quite adorable, huh?"

"… Idiot."

"Speaking of my sister, I guess I have to thank her later."

"Why?"

"She did a good job when you two were shopping for a bikini. I'm starting to understand why you looked forward to today so much, yesterday in the bed. You look extremely cute. It suits you very well."

"Y-Your super honest mode is so unfair… My heart really is going to take damage by it… But thank you, I guess…"

"I really mean it."

"A-Anyway, you're on the other hand, are totally cheating, Kagamin~. I'm having trouble focusing my eyes because I'm desperately resisting the urge to jump at you right here and now!"

"Pervert."

"As if that wasn't your plan! Easily having the boldest bikini here and then there's the color scheme of it… It's so totally inspired by Hatsune Miku and you know what I think of her."

"Hmm…"

"It was on purpose, wasn't it?"

"Who knows~?" Kagami just smiled at her and started walking towards the water.

"Oi!" Konata wasn't done talking and so she jumped at Kagami's back. Said person didn't stop walking, though. With Konata clinging to her back, she continued her way towards the water. Konata didn't mind it much anymore because, after two seconds of clinging, she was just enjoying the contact of bare skin. When she arrived at the water, Kagami turned around and let herself fall, with her back first, in the water.

"Wow, the water's pretty warm."

"Oh, you're right, it feels really nice."

"Calmed down a little, Kona?"

"Yeah, I'm slowly getting used to the bikini, I guess."

"Me too, let's both do our best with having fun in the water without getting excited over a little exposed skin."

"Eh? Both? You mean…" Konata was surprised to hear it, but pressed one of her fingers on Konata's lips to silence her.

"You really need to learn how to read the mood and when you should stop talking."

"Huh? I know perfectly well that I should've stopped a while ago, I just didn't want to."

"I see…"

"Well, in this case, I was just happy that the excitement's mutual."

"Weren't your words yesterday 'Shouldn't it be weirder if I, your girlfriend, wouldn't be excited by seeing you in a bikini'?"

"More or less…"

"Don't you think that this should also apply to me, Kona?"

"Hmm…"

"It does, more than you think actually. Now let's stop talking already and have some fun together with Miyuki and Tsukasa."

"T-That's a very good plan, Kagamin~."

Their conversation was over and the two swam towards Miyuki and Tsukasa, who were playing together on the other side of the lagoon-like water.

"What are you two doing?"

"Oh, Kona-chan, onee-chan, have you two finished flirting?" It looks like Tsukasa saw them having fun.

"W-Wha-…"

"We just thought that it would be nice to play together as a group."

"Oh, that's a very nice idea."

"Yay! But back to my question for Yuki-chan first… Yuki-chan, why are there no fishes here in the water?"

"Huh?" Konata was a bit confused and then looked down into the water again. "Wow, you're right, there's nothing in here? Wait, the water isn't poisonous or anything, right?"

"No, don't worry, it definitely isn't." Miyuki immediately cleared up the dangerous question. "There are many reasons why some waters don't have fishes in it. The two most likely here are that it's because this water isn't directly connected to the sea, only by the small hole in the cliff and only when the tide is high enough. The second reason is probably because the water is too clean. There isn't a single sign of algae or plankton and thus no food for most fishes."

"Oh, okay, it sounds like it makes sense…" Tsukasa didn't fully understand the reasons completely, but she had absolute faith in the correctness of Miyuki's explanation.

"So… even nature thinks this place is too amazing?" Konata had her own explanation and Kagami actually gave her a small nod.

"Well, I'm actually rather happy that we don't have to share the water with fishes and whatever else…"

"You have a point there, onee-chan…"

"Hmm…" Konata's attention was already somewhere else.

"What is it now, Kona?"

"That cliff surrounding us… it's not very high, is it?"

"Well… It's still twice as tall as I am… Why?"

"Who's in for a little cliff diving?"

"Eh? N-No, I think I'm fine, Kona-chan…"

"I'll probably also just watch…" Tsukasa and Miyuki weren't a fan of the idea.

"Aww, so boring~… What about you, Kagamin~? You're cool, right?"

"Wow, that's one of the lamest things you ever said…"

"Y-You don't have to say it out loud! Don't you think I realized that while saying it, myself?"

"Hehe. The cliff, huh? Well, I think I jumped from higher places at public swimming pools. Sure, let's try it."

"That's my Kagamin~."

"Yes yes."

The two got out of the water and looked for a way to get on top of the cliff. After a bit of looking, they found some kind of path and could simply walk their way up. Standing up there, their earlier confidence started to waver a little.

"Is it just me or does it look way deeper from up here?"

"Weird, I was just thinking the same, Kona."

"Hey Miyuki, why does it seem deeper from our point of view." Konata yelled from the top of the cliff, hoping for an answer.

"It's most likely an optical illusion caused by the extremely clear water. Basically, you're looking from up there all the way to the ground of the lagoon. Look here…" Miyuki began splashing the water and created several waves with it. "See, the actual distance should be clearer now, right?"

"Ohhh, you're right, thank you."

"Having a personal wiki sure is nice. I wonder if it'll rub on Tsukasa one day…" Konata whispered the last part so that only Kagami could hear before starting to laugh.

"Oi…" Kagami scolded her, but had a hard time holding back her own smile.

"What's wrong, Kona-chan?" Tsukasa was a bit confused by the acting of the two.

"N-Nothing…"

"Well then, shall we do it, Kona?"

"That's why we're here." She grabbed Kagami's hand and the two then jumped from the cliff. The next thing Miyuki and Tsukasa saw was a huge splash of water coming towards before the two got even wetter.

"Phew, that wasn't bad at all."

"Ha, another thing to cross off my list. Good thing I didn't specify the height of the cliff to jump from…"

"Should I ask?"

"No, that list is way too high level for you, Kagamin~." She looked proud for some reason.

"Which means there are a lot of embarrassing things on it, huh?" Kagami looked even prouder, or rather, smug.

"W-Well, there's also that…"

"Oho, I wonder if I'm also on that list…"

"Hmm~, interesting question, Kagamin~. It's a good thing that the list only exists in my head."

"Too bad, I would've loved to take a peek at it."

"Maybe I'll make you a best-of list in a couple years in the future."

"I'm looking forward to it."

"Aww, making plans for the far away future already."

"Got a problem with that?"

"N-No… I'm very sorry…" Tsukasa's attempt to tease was completely negated by the simultaneous answer of the two.

The girls kept playing in the water until they were somewhat exhausted and decided to rest. Miyuki brought over a parasol and a blanket from the villa and the girls were currently resting on the beach.

"This place…" Tsukasa was in awe again.

"Yeah, I wonder if we could meet the aliens who created it." Konata was being Konata.

"It's aliens now? What about the different world theory?"

"Well, duh… The aliens who created the other world… What else could I mean, Kagamin~?"

"…" She was completely speechless.

"Eight weeks?" Konata received a nod from Kagami.

"Kona-chan sure is…"

"Indeed." Tsukasa and Miyuki were pretty amazed for some reason.

Ten minutes under the parasol had passed and Tsukasa was already bored. She took Miyuki and now the two were building a sand castle near the water.

"Your sister sure is quite the kid."

"Says the one who thinks this place is in a different world and created by aliens…"

"That's not childish at all. After all, there are a lot of manga and especially light novel authors, who are quite successful with this kind of setting."

"Sure, other world settings are popular… but aliens? That's kind of outdated, isn't it?"

"Really? That's your retort, Kagamin~?"

"Gah… I did that to myself… Well, I do like the whole transported and reincarnated in a different world setting quite a bit in light novels, but aliens? No, not even a bit. Another world's supposed to be fun, right? New culture, tons of adventures, interesting friends and of course magic… An alien invasion doesn't sound fun at all… Wait… what if…"

"K-Kagamin~?"

"H-Huh? Uh… yes?"

"Six weeks light novel ban."

"Eh?! Why? That's totally not fair!"

"Not fair, huh? Kagamin~, I got a ban for casually mentioning different worlds, but you should get a free pass for totally nerding out about your light novels?"

"Uhh… that's… I'm sorry…"

"Hey, how about that… Let's call it quit and no one gets a ban on anything?"

"Okay… fine, I guess that's only fair…"

"Yay! You're the best, Kagamin~!"

"Yes yes… Huh? Wait a moment… You tricked me just now, didn't you?" Kagami calmed down a little and realized something.

"I would never do such a thing as fooling you!"

"Really?"

"A-Absolutely!"

"You're a bad liar, Kona."

"I know…" She could only muster a dry laugh.

"It's too bad that I'm not much better about it…"

"No, that's a good thing… Although, I wonder about that a bit…"

"Anyway… How about a topic change?"

"Sure, change away."

"Want to go for another swim?"

"Hmm… Nah, I'm good. I would rather keep enjoying the view here." Konata said so and looked at Kagami, who was sitting in her bikini on the blanket right next to her.

"Is that so? How about I go alone then?"

"Go on. Seeing a beautiful getting wet is… Okay… I'm sorry about that… I don't know where I was going with that… Sure, let's go swimming." Konata realized that she overdid it herself before Kagami could even react.

"Learn how to filter your words already…"

"Absolutely impossible. In the first place, it's your fault, Kagamin~."

"I would love to hear the reason for that."

"That's because I get too excited and happy around you what makes it impossible for me to restrain myself." Konata's extra serious face while making this statement wasn't something that Kagami was expecting.

"… Idiot." She was pretty embarrassed and was rather happy that she could jump into the water to cool down her red face.

"You're an idiot." Konata was happy that she had the upper hand for a rare change lately and delivered another blow before jumping into the water herself. Miyuki and Tsukasa, who were building their sand castle, had listened to the whole act with a bright red face.

"Kagami-san and Izumi-san are pretty… intense… I'm embarrassed just by listening to them…"

"Yeah… that's true… But I'm glad that onee-chan and Kona-chan are so lovey-dovey and happy."

"It indeed looks like they're having a lot of fun together…"

"Yes…" The two almost looked a little envious by watching their friends, but soon focused on their sand castle again or rather, sand-city by now.

The day continued like this, with the girls either playing at the beach or in the water. It was getting late and more importantly, they were getting hungry and decided to go back to the villa for preparing dinner.

After the four finished eating, they started chatting like usual.

"I'm sooo tired… Playing at the beach all day is surprisingly exhausting."

"You're right, Tsukasa-san, I'm also a bit tired."

"Really? I think I'm more energetic than I was in the morning."

"I'm mostly mentally tired…" Konata's and Kagami's opinion on it were greatly different from Miyuki's and Tsukasa's

"I wonder why~."

"Me too, Kona…"

"Hehe."

"Oh!" Miyuki suddenly gasped. "I totally forgot about something…"

"If Miyuki forgot about something… it's going to be bad."

"There's a hot spring nearby that we all could visit tomorrow or so."

"A h-hot spring, huh?"

"Oh… this is pretty bad…"

"Why is a hot spring bad, Kona-chan, and why is your face red, onee-chan?"

"It's bad for my heart…"

"There are various and difficult reasons…"

"I see…" Tsukasa didn't understand at all.

"Wow, look at the time… it's gotten pretty late… I think I'll head for the bed today…" Konata said some pretty uncharacteristic words for her.

"Oh, that's a good idea… I'll come with you, Kona." Kagami was also 'tired' and both left before the other two could say a word.

"That was… weird…" Tsukasa watched the two leaving and got only more confused.

"Was it?"

"Eh? Do you know what their problem with the hot spring is, Yuki-chan?"

"I think I have an idea… I probably did something bad…"

"Oh, what is it?"

"Well…" Miyuki wasn't sure how to explain it. "Hot spring means being naked and the two are probably… let's say embarrassed."

"Why? Didn't we visit a public bath together some time ago? Nothing happened there."

"The circumstances now are different. Back then, they were just friends and now they're a couple…"

"What's the difference… Ohhh…" Tsukasa finally understood.

"Yes, they probably don't know how to handle seeing each naked right now."

"It makes sense… I didn't think about that at all… Should we not go then?"

"I assume the two are talking about the same thing right now. Let them decide tomorrow."

"Okay… Being in a relationship also can complicate things, huh?"

"It sure can."

"It still looks like it's worth it, though…"

…..

Two girls were currently sitting on some chairs in the corner of their room and had some pretty difficult expressions on their faces.

"So…"

"Soo…"

"Hot spring, she said…"

"Hot spring, huh?"

"That could be bad…"

"Yeah…"

"…"

"…" The awkward silence started to become painful.

"Haa… that's going nowhere… Can I just speak openly, Kagamin~?"

"Sure, why stopping now?"

"I'm not sure if I should go with you there…"

"Hmm…"

"You know, me falling for you mainly happened because of your character. Talking to you, spending time with you, teasing you… getting teased by you is fun on its own, but nevermind that now, playing games… heck, even risking my life in the kitchen was fun. Your dere side is super adorable and your tsun side, even though it's on standby lately, made me interested in you at the beginning and I got rewarded with great reactions from you, thanks to it. I love all that about you, but I can't or won't hide that my physical attraction towards you is also growing… Well, not like that's a secret, especially after the whole bikini thing today…"

"Uhn…" Kagami wasn't sure if she should be happy and embarrassed because of the heartily love declaration or a bit angry because of the tsundere remark.

"I really think we should wait before going further than our cuddling and kissing… I already had a hard time with holding back when I saw you in a bikini today… If said piece of clothing is also gone in the hot spring… I don't know what's going to happen. I'm scared that I could do something I would regret later on and, well… make things awkward between us as the best possible outcome…"

"Kona…" Kagami was a bit overwhelmed and started thinking about her next words. "Ehm… First off, I'm pretty happy about what you said. I'm touched that you think so highly of me and our relationship."

"It's all true."

"Yes, I don't doubt you in the slightest… Let me continue. Everything you said is completely… mutual… I love you just as much and for similar reasons… And… I, too, got a little more conscious about the… physical part of a relationship bit by bit… I'm probably just better at holding back…"

"Ahem…" Konata didn't agree.

"Shut up, not now. There's only mistake you made there, Kona."

"Huh? Where?"

"It's not for you alone to decide how far we're going to go with or without feeling guilty. Or rather, you can only feel guilty if it isn't mutual… Yes, I as well think it would be too early, but… but whatever happens, happens… If… If we force ourselves to hold back with something we think we shouldn't do… or do yet in this case… What would that mean? If we go with that, we wouldn't even be together, right? I'm by no means saying we should advance our relationship without thinking, but we also shouldn't overthink it. We both love and feel comfortable around each other. If we mutually come to the point to go further, be it tomorrow or in a year, let's just go with the flow and see what happens. You don't have to feel guilty for thinking about it. After all, I'm not much different."

"… Ehh… Uhh… Uhm…" Konata's brain's gone way over capacity and overloaded. "I-I have no idea what to say… "

"Just say 'okay', Kona." Kagami gave her a little push and then averted her face. She was able to say what she wanted to convey to Kona with a straight face because it was important for her and her relationship with Konata, but now that it was over, she would prefer to crawl into a hole and die in pure embarrassment that she had never experienced before in her life.

"O-Okay." It was the only thing she could, should and wanted to say.

"Good… Now, if you'll please excuse, I'm going to go outside for a bit… If I don't cool down now… then there's a possibility for me that I'll spontaneously burst into flames." Not even on her best days had Konata managed to make Kagami's face as red as it was right now.

"Sure… I'll stay here, lay on the bed and scream into my pillow for the time being."

"Sounds like a plan, let's go with that." Kagami stood up from the chair and was about to leave the room."

"Hey, Kagamin~, thanks… for everything."

"…" All she could do, thanks to her mental condition, give a small nod before finally leaving.

….

Kagami first went to the kitchen to get something cold to drink and then stepped outside into the garden in order to clear her head. About ten minutes in silence passed before she got unexpected company.

"Oh, good evening, Kagami-san, I wasn't expecting to see you here. Is something wrong?" Miyuki also wanted something to drink, but she then noticed the light outside. She decided to take a look and found Kagami while getting a little worried after she saw her still slightly red face.

"Miyuki… hello. No, everything's fine, I guess."

"I see. Can I sit down for a bit?"

"Sure… we're your guests in the first place."

"Thank you." Miyuki sat down next to her on the grass and looked the same direction Kagami was looking at, straight at the starry night sky.

"I'm fine, Miyuki, you don't have to worry." Kagami saw through the intention of her.

"That's good to hear, but something happened, right? With Izumi-san probably…"

"Haa… It's complicated…"

"A fight? I'm sorry…"

"Why are you sorry?"

"I have the feeling that it's my fault… It happened because of the hot spring I mentioned, isn't it?"

"Well… that was the reason, but it wasn't a fight… more something like a… uh, discussion that took an… interesting turn…"

"I see… Still, I'm sorry…"

"You really don't have to, Miyuki. I've never felt closer to Konata and that's all thanks to the talk we had. If anything, I should thank you. I'm just here right now to get a little fresh air…"

"Oh, I'm pretty relieved to hear it. You probably don't want to share your talk, right?"

"I'm sorry, but there's no way that's going to happen. It's way too personal to tell anyone." Kagami had no intention to mention anything because it's too embarrassing and private.

"Okay, well, I was expecting it- I'm happy that I didn't accidentally harm your relationship with Izumi-san."

"Far from it."

"So, will you two go with Tsukasa-san and me to the hot spring tomorrow?"

"Yes… we'll go."

"That's great. Tsukasa-san will be happy to hear it."

"Yeah…"

"Well then, I'll be going back to my room."

"Okay, good night, Miyuki. I'll be going soon, too."

"See you tomorrow, Kagami-san."

Miyuki left the garden and Kagami followed a couple minutes later. She arrived in her room and saw that Konata was already asleep. She probably became tired from yelling into her pillow and fell asleep just like that. Kagami didn't mind it much, snuggled up to her on the bed and fell asleep on her own.

…..

After the talk the two had yesterday, both slept like a log and had a little late start in the morning. They finally woke up and arrived at the kitchen a little later.

"Oh, good morning, Kona-chan and onee-chan, finally awake, huh?"

"Tsukasa-san, didn't you wake up just a couple minutes ago, yourself?"

"Y-Yuki-chan! They don't need to know that!"

"I'm sorry…"

"Good morning." Konata and Kagami decided to just ignore the little bantering.

"So, what's the plan for today?"

"Well, I really wanted to visit the hot spring Miyuki mentioned yesterday with everyone, but… is that okay?"

"Yeah, Kona and I are fine. We'll come with you two."

"Yay!"

"But not the complete day, right? We would probably end up looking like lobsters or so…"

"Nonono, I wanted to go sometime in the evening after finishing playing at the beach.

"Ah, makes sense."

The girls ate breakfast and then went to the beach later on where they played the whole day. Konata even wasn't distracted by Kagami's bikini. The reason for that was obvious. On one hand, there was the talk from last night, but the main factor was that she was already preparing her heart for the main attraction later.

It was getting late and the girls decided to visit the hot spring now. It was only a short, ten minute long walk on foot until they arrived at the small hot spring, which worked on a reservation basis. Miyuki luckily made said reservation in the morning already.

They went inside, into the changing room and swapped their clothes for a towel that was now wrapped around their bodies. After that, the four went to the shower are in order to clean their hair and bodies before entering the actual hot spring. One after another finished cleaning themselves and entered the water. It was a rather hot, even for a hot spring and so the whole area was quite steamy. Even with the reduces visibility, the mood was awkward and that was clearly visible by how the girls were located in the water. Miyuki and Tsukasa were happily chatting with each other right in the middle, but the other two had some difficulties with that. Konata was sitting in one corner of the water, facing the forest that could be soon from the hot spring and Kagami was located in the exact opposite corner of the water, looking at the entrance. They couldn't even see each other thanks to the steam in the first place, but that wasn't important to them. Talking about it was one thing, but actually facing it was something entirely different.

"Hey, Yuki-chan, can we do something about that?" Tsukasa was getting more and more worried after five minutes passed without the situation even slightly changing.

"Hmm… I understand how you feel, but… I'm sorry, I don't have even the slightest idea what we could do in order to help."

"I see…"

"Let's give them some more time."

Ten more minutes passed and Tsukasa still wanted to help. She swam over to Konata and sat down next to her.

"Hey, Kona-chan…"

"Tsukasa…"

"How's the water?"

"…"

"Sorry… I'm not good at stuff like that."

"It's not your fault, Tsukasa."

"Do you want to talk?"

"There's not much to talk, though… I'm just having a hard time facing your sister in this situation. I was sure that I could handle it, but that wasn't true at all…"

"Uhh…" Tsukasa quickly realized why Miyuki said before that she had no idea how to help because it was something with a way too high difficulty. "Sorry… I wanted to help, but I don't think I'm able to after all…"

"It's okay, you did nothing wrong. Thank you for worrying about me…"

"… Hey, it's probably not the right time, but can I ask you some things instead, Kona-chan?" She tried a different approach.

"Any distraction is more than welcome."

"It kind of has something to do with the topic, though… You like girls, right?"

"Well… I am going out with your sister, so…"

"Yes, you like my sister, but further than that… girls in general…"

"Ah… that's where you're going for."

"And?"

"Hmm… You sure can ask some pretty difficult questions, little sis."

"Y-You don't have to answer if you don't want to."

"No, it's fine. You know Hatsune Miku, right?"

"The Vocaloid… robot… girl… you and onee-chan like?"

"More or less… The first crush I ever had is said Miku. Yes, I know perfectly well that she's not a real person, but she's still classified as a girl in my eyes. I guess that's how I found out that I may be into girls and your sister was the last hint I needed. When I see a boy, I think 'okay, that's a boy…'. When I see a girl… well, it's not like I want to jump at the next best one, obviously, but I occasionally though 'Oh, she's kind of cute...' It's hard to explain… but whatever. When I see a video of Hatsune Miku, I often get this warm and nice feeling in the stomach area…"

"Warm feeling, is it?" Tsukasa's line of sight changed for a split second before immediately refocusing on Konata.

"Yes… and when I think about your sister, I almost feel like going crazy any second. Now, when I imagine that she's on the other side of this hot spring and naked… my brain completely overloads and just the pathetic person you're talking right now is left…"

"Kona-chan… I really don't think you're pathetic. All I see is how you really care about onee-chan and how much you like her." Tsukasa was really impressed by what Konata told her and absolutely didn't agree with her self-evaluation.

"Thank you?"

"Can I talk some more for a bit?"

"Sure, talking it out feels kind of nice."

"Ehehe. Okay, you have problems seeing onee-chan naked and I can understand it your reason for it. There's also that you like girls in general… Now… well… I'm also a girl, sitting right next to you and I don't have to mention that we're both completely naked right now, thanks to being in a hot spring and yet, you're talking to me like it's nothing for over ten minutes already…"

"W-Wait, you're a girl?"

"K-Kona-chan, that's super mean!"

"Sorry, I couldn't help it. You're way more girl than I am, Tsukasa." The glance she threw at Tsukasa was just to make sure and nothing else.

"Okay…"

"Well, I can interact with you normally because you're not Kagamin~. It's as simple as that."

"I see."

"Don't get me wrong, you're definitely in the 'Oh, she's cute' category, easily, but you aren't my girlfriend and just a friend, okay, a very good and important one, but still… Rather, no… you're the little sister of my girlfriend and all I can see you as is also a little sister…"

"R-Really? You think of us as something like sisters?"

"I shouldn't do that?"

"NONONO! I'm just really, really, really happy to hear that!" Tsukasa was moved by how Konata felt about her and just had to hug her right here and now. Konata instantly raised up her arms to prove her innocence to anyone who could be watching this situation.

"T-Tsukasa… I really mean what I said, but being hugged while naked is still a bit…"

"Oh… y-yes, I'm sorry, I'm was just a bit too happy." She immediately let go of Konata again.

"It's okay, I'm glad you like my little selfish view of our relationship."

"Ehehe, not selfish at all."

"That's also why we're having this conversation right now… Yes, I'm, also not interested in Miyuki, even though she's more girl than all of us three together if you know what I mean, but she's still just a friend. A good one, yes, but that's it. I wouldn't have told her as much as I told you right now because I feel closer to you in an almost family kind of sense…"

"I… I want to hug you again…"

"Please wait with that until later when we're dressed again, Tsukasa."

"Of course."

"Anything else you want to know?"

"No, I already got more than I hoped for…"

"Is that so?"

"I was a bit envious that onee-chan found such a nice and caring partner, but looks like I gained a new sister in the progress… I'm pretty happy and satisfied right now!"

"I'm glad to hear that. I think you should go back to Miyuki now, though. You don't want her to be lonely, right?"

"Why should Yuki-chan be lonely?"

"Just saying."

"O…kay?" Tsukasa didn't understand her implication, but still was about to head back to her.

"Ah, Tsukasa?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks for the talk, I feel a lot better now. You really helped me."

"Ehehe~." Tsukasa happily swam towards Miyuki and Konata got out of the water five minutes later because she was getting a bit dizzy from the temperature and because she talked so much. She went to the changing room and put back on her clothes. After that, she stepped outside of the building and saw someone she wasn't expecting.

…..

"Kagamin~?"

"Hey there, Kona."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Ehm…" They shared a lot of this situation like this already, but right now was probably the longest and most painful of every awkward paused they ever had.

"Yeah…" And some more moments of silence passed.

"I'm sorry…" Both finally said something, but at the same time.

"We're way too in synch and that's not a good thing for a change…"

"Yes…"

"Haa… Can I talk first, Kona?"

"Go on."

"Okay… found out and interesting fact about this hot spring… It has a pretty weird acoustic…"

"Ehm?"

"It probably has something to do with the huge oval-shaped rock in the water, Miyuki would probably know more, but I somehow was able to hear your conversation with my little sister in the place I was…"

"Oh, that's indeed interesting… Wait… What?! Ehm… You have to know that it was Tsukasa who hugged me and not the other way around!"

"I 'heard' everything, not 'saw'."

"Oh, right… forget that I said something. You heard everything, huh? Can I go to the beach really quick and bury myself in the sand? I kind of want to die in shame right now…"

"We need to talk first…"

"Okay, then I'll wait a bit with it…"

"Good." The two sat down on a nearby bench and Kagami continued. "How much of what you told Tsukasa is true?"

"Every single word. You know as much as I do that it is physically impossible to lie to your sister for some reason…"

"That's true…"

"Furthermore, she's quite dangerous… Once she gets you to talk, you'll tell her everything… not matter if you want or not…"

"Yes, she's pretty good at that… So, everything's true, huh? Great… I feel even worse now…"

"Huh? Why?"

"I held this grandiose speech yesterday and I really believed myself. I thought we made a big step yesterday and I was sure I could handy today. I was confident and something deep inside of me was even looking forward to it. You know what happened earlier? I caught just a little glimpse of you… I haven't even seen anything in the second it happened, but I still completely shut down… I spent a whole hour alone in the hot spring because I couldn't go near you…"

"So… you were as scared or reluctant or whatever as I was?"

"No, on the contrary to you, I really am pathetic."

"I don't understand you at all right now, Kagamin~…"

"You know, while listening to the conversation you had with Tsukasa, I thought for a second that you're too good for me…"

"Eh… Ah… Uh… W-Wha…" Konata's ability to talk died.

"We both had the same problem, but the differences were enormous. I did absolutely nothing except praying for it to end. You, on the other hand, managed to help my little sister by answering all those questions to her. Not just that, you also made her super happy by feeling how high you think of her… I haven't seen her face, but I'm sure I would've seen the biggest smile she ever had in this moment. You know what would've happened if she came to me instead? Without no doubt, I definitely would've shooed her away in this situation. Then there's your extremely high opinion of me… Don't get me wrong, I think of you just as high and I really care about you and love you, but I can't talk to anyone but you about it. I told Tsukasa that I fell for you and all, but I never could've talked about romance so open like you did with her, I literally would've died in embarrassment… It feels like you are more invested in our relationship… I know that it's wrong because it's mainly because I have a hard time opening up to people… even to my sister in this particular case… but I just can't help thinking so…"

"Ka- Kagami…" Konata placed her face into her palms and started thinking. Think harder than she ever did before. She knew that Kagami's way of thinking is simply stupid, but she had no idea what to do or say right now. Konata had to do something soon in order to defuse the extremely complicated situation, though. She desperately racked her brain until she just tried her luck. "You really are stupid." Konata never was good at thinking hard. "You think you're not worthy of me? Get out of my head because that's my line! I'm the one who wants to dance in joy every morning when I woke up after realizing that my current life isn't a dream… Do you want to know what I thought after our conversation from yesterday ended? I was trying to find out what I did to deserve such a perfect girl for over an hour… Know what? I still have no idea… Every single time we had a serious talk about something, I felt the same like you do right now. This girl is so invested in it and constantly thinks about our relationship, yet all I do is making jokes… Who's not worthy of who here? Speaking about talking openly about us… Tsukasa… I wouldn't be able to talk to other people about it, either… Not with Miyuki, not my dad obviously and no one else either… She's special in a way to me because she's the first friend I had in a long time and she's the one who brought you in my life… Hey… let's stop this… whatever we're doing right now and just say the following: You love me, I equally love you and we're both worthy of each other… How about we leave it at that?" Konata finished her extremely emotional speech, which even forced some tears down her cheeks in the progress and looked at Kagami beside her. She was already crying before Konata even started talking and now changed her point of view from the dark night sky to Konata's face.

"Kona…" She whispered her name between two sniffs.

"I want you to say yes. I don't want any more misunderstandings that can cause such anxiety or insecurities."

"Yes." Kagami wiped away her tears and gave a big, powerful nod.

"Thank you. Ehm… About the whole Tsukasa being my first friend in a long time thing… Can you please forget about it? I really didn't want to say that…"

"I'm sorry, but I can't and sadly, according to our new pledge, I have something else to apologize for…"

"Uh…"

"I… I know what happened in your past…"

"W-What?!" Her initial red face lost all color.

"Your father told me about it… Elementary school, middle school, beginning of high school and his influences on the things you like… probably everything…"

"Why…?"

"He was concerned about you. He saw the two of us getting closer and closer and so he started to worry about what would happen if I also suddenly vanish… He just didn't want you to be hurt again…"

"Is… Is that why we…"

"NO! DON'T EVEN DARE TO THINK THAT!" Kagami instantly interrupted her before the by far biggest misunderstand today could manifest with a powerful and resolute no.

"I'm sorry… I had to ask… I didn't want to imply anything, but I had to hear the answer because else, it would've killed me sooner or later…"

"I fully understand it, Kona. I think I would react the same way. To reassure a little more, your father told me about it even before I fell in love with you."

"I see… I'm glad… I feel really relieved right now…"

"Good. Ever since I found out about it, I feared that it would haunt me someday…"

"Well, I am pretty angry, but not at you, Kagamin~. It's not your fault. I wasn't intending on telling anyone, but if it's you… it's not that bad. I don't want to hide such secrets from you, now that I think about, Kagamin~."

"You little smooth talker."

"Ehehe…" Their mood started to brighten up again.

"I would like to also tell you a secret of mine, but… hmm, I also never had any really close friends because people often think I'm rather cold and hard to approach…"

"… ha… hahaha…" Konata didn't want to laugh, but there was no way that was possible. "I really shouldn't laugh, but my little tsundere is hard to approach, huh?"

"… Idiot…" There was zero malice in her words, though.

"Let's go home, Kagamin~." Both were able to laugh again and thought it was a good time to head back. Kagami agreed and stood up from the bench. She then extended her hand to Konata after entwining their fingers, both started walking hand in hand towards the villa.

They were already halfway there when Kagami spoke up again.

"Tsukasa's like a little sister, huh?"

"Yep, you'll have to share her now."

"As long as it stays by 'sister'."

"Pervert."

"Oi."

"Jokes aside, of course, Kagamin~. You're the only one."

"Then I'll allow it."

"Yay."

"I wonder what mom would think about that."

"Uhh…"

"What's wrong, Kona?"

"Nah, it's nothing." Miki probably would like it for various and difficult reasons.

"Now that we're talking about Tsukasa… What happened when you woke her up yesterday?"

"Hehe… you're going to hate this."

"I know that much already."

"We were just messing with you, Kagamin~."

"Huh?"

"I told Tsukasa that she should act a little secretive and bashful once we arrived at the kitchen."

"You… Wait, that doesn't explain how you got her to wake up in the first place."

"' Kagamin~ will go shopping with you for an entire Saturday if you get up right now, Tsukasa.' You have no idea how well that worked."

"You didn't do that…"

"Do I look like I didn't?" Konata gave her a smirk, let go of Kagami's and started running towards the villa that just came into view.

"Don't think that I won't take you down with me once this day comes!" She yelled before she started chasing her. They ran all the way to the villa and even continued chasing each other inside. Konata arrived in the living room first and stopped for a second.

"Oh, hey Tsukasa, Miyuki, already back again, huh?"

"Uh… y-yeah…"

"Sorry, I got to go again… see you later or so." Konata disappeared again and Kagami replaced her two seconds later.

"W-Where did that little pest go?!"

"U-Upstairs…"

"Thanks…" And she was gone again.

"Uhm…"

"Yep…" Miyuki and Tsukasa just looked at each other a little dumbfounded.

"Why do I always worry for nothing when it comes to them, Yuki-chan?"

"Because they're always like that… Although, I don't think it was nothing earlier… The two definitely had a fight. I didn't hear what it was, but it sounded pretty heavy…"

"We should've stayed and listened after all… instead of sneaking around them after leaving the hot spring."

"No, I really don't think that would've been a good thing."

"Yeah… it's bad to eavesdrop on friends, but still…"

"I understand what you mean and I'm also more than just a little interested, but we have to respect their privacy."

"That's true."

"Let's just focus on the outcome. Whatever happened is over already and the two are as happy as always."

"You're right. I guess we won't be visiting the hot springs again, though, right?"

"I think the chances for all of us together are rather low. Us two could go together if they're okay with it.

"Good idea, Yuki-chan."

"Leaving everything aside, I still feel rather guilty about everything, though… Everything started because of my idea with the hot spring in the first place…"

"That's not true."

"Kagami-san said the same, but look at what happened… I'm pretty sure the two were even crying a little earlier… That wouldn't have happened without my proposal…"

"And they were happily chasing each other with smiles on their faces five minutes ago… Your argument is? Listen to yourself and just look at the outcome."

"Still…"

"If you ask me, after what I heard from Kona-chan, you only helped them to grow. So, don't worry about it, Yuki-chan." Tsukasa gently placed her hand on Miyuki's shoulder in order to put her at ease and it helped.

"Yeah… thank you."

"Shall we go to bed now? We made sure that the two are okay and it's gotten pretty late."

"Good idea."

The two went to their rooms and the slightly turbulent day ended just like that.

….

The following two days were a little calmer. Konata and Kagami were basically back to normal again, but the other day, when Tsukasa wanted to visit the hot spring again, she had to go alone with Miyuki. The couple decided to spend the entire two days leisurely at the beach and had fun in the water.

The final day before they had to head back home on the next morning arrived and they had something special prepared for lunch. Konata and Tsukasa went shopping again, only for food this time, though, and were preparing a barbecue at the terrace of the villa right now. The two had cut up several pieces of meat, created many skewers and fired up the grill.

Some time passed until the food was ready, but the girls were happily annihilating everything eatable they saw soon enough. Skewer after skewer disappeared and the girls soon started to rub their stomachs in satisfaction.

"Haa… that was pretty good."

"Yes, that's true."

"Hey onee-chan, Kona-chan, have you two planned anything for today already? Yuki-chan wanted to show me the real sea today. We didn't care about it because we had this dreamy lagoon like place all for us alone, but I wanted to at least take a peek at the normal one."

"Sorry, Tsukasa, but Kagamin~ and I have something planned already…"

"Oh, that's okay, Kona-chan. What are you two going to do?"

"Something like a date, I guess."

"Really? That's nice."

"Actually… It's more like facing some difficulties or something like that…"

"Hmm?"

"Kona and I are going to the hot spring today."

"Huh? Oh, that's great…" Tsukasa wasn't expecting that after last time.

"Have fun, you two." Miyuki was equally surprised, but was better at hiding it.

"Thanks."

…

An hour passed and the two were standing in front of the entrance to the hot spring.

"Are you sure about it, Kagamin~."

"Yes, I want to do it… For our sake."

"Okay."

Konata entered first and Kagami waited a couple minutes before following. They had decided to enter with a time gap to lessen the 'impact' later on. Konata was already in the water when Kagami finished cleaning her body and hair. She entered and slowly got closer to Konata, who was facing the other direction of her the entire time. Kagami also sat down in the water of the hot spring and their backs were facing each other right now.

A few moments of silence passed, but the two were already doing way better than last time.

"H-Hello, Kona."

"Good evening, Kagamin~, how are you doing on this lovely day?" The two were still looking in different directions.

"A bit much."

"Sorry, I need my jokes in situations like this after all." She said so and lightly pressed her back against Kagami's.

"Ah…! D-Don't surprise me like that!"

"Sorry…"

"No… it's okay."

The two kept chatting while getting slowly more comfortable with the situation and each other before deciding to go to the next stage.

"Okay… we count to three and turn around, okay?"

"Yes."

"Good… One, two, three, go." Nothing happened. Neither of them moved a bit. "Oi, you didn't turn around!"

"Neither did you, Kagamin~!"

"Fair point…"

"Okay… new countdown… three, two, one go!"

This time, they really turned around. Kagami looked at Konata and Konata looked back at Kagami. Both of their eyes wandered up and down at the same time while fighting back the strong urge to turn back again. Their eyes kept wandering from one place to another and the faces of the two were getting redder and redder. The heat of the hot spring wasn't the only cause for that. A little time passed before they looked away from each other.

"W-Well, that was easy." Contrary to her statement, Konata's facial expression told otherwise.

"R-Really?"

"Nope, I think your birthday with the confession took fewer years away from my lifespan than this moment here…"

"Same here…"

"Problem is, I think I'm already in the negative range…"

"I don't think so."

"The chances are low, but I'll believe you for now."

"Kona…" Kagami just shook her head.

"Wow, I'm so good at destroying the tension in every discussion."

"And that's a good thing for a change."

"Absolutely."

"Should we finally enjoy the hot spring a little now?"

"Pretty good idea, Kagamin~." The two moved a little and sat down next to each other near a stone while leaning their back against it.

"It sure is misty here. The view's pretty bad." Kagami was looking around, but the only thing she saw was white steam.

"I think the view's rather good actually."

"Eh?"

"Huh?" The two weren't talking about the same thing.

"Pervert." She saw through Konata.

"I'm not going to apologize."

"Well, you have a point…" Kagami changed her line of sight on copied Konata's.

"I'm not happy with those differences in our treatment."

"Too bad."

"I mean I could've said whatever I wanted, it would always end up being in being called 'pervert'. Even if I just would've said that you look cute."

"Except you wouldn't have said cute, but thanks, pervert."

"See?! Well, maybe I would've said something like 'you're hotter than the water', but that could've been a bit much."

"No, I wouldn't have called you a pervert then."

"Eh?"

"I would start laughing because of that terrible pick-up line."

"… I seriously have a hard time understanding you sometimes…"

"What? It is pretty bad after all."

"Haa…"

"In the first place, you're the cute one here."

"I'm not happy at all to hear that." Konata still averted her face after hearing it.

"What a tsundere."

"I'm not!"

"Are we getting embarrassed?"

"No!" She only turned her head even more around.

"Bashfulness only adds to your cuteness, Kona."

"…" Konata turned around to face Kagami again.

"Mfmn!" Kagami wanted to say some more things, but Konata was faster. She closed the distance between their faces and just kissed her. Kagami was bewildered at first, but then wrapped her arm around her and pulled her closer. They exchanged a few more kisses and it almost looked like the hot spring got a little steamier for a moment. A few moments passed and then they loosened their embrace again.

"S-Sorry, I got too…"

"It's okay… Just the place… is kind of…" Kagami first looked around and then down on Konata and herself.

"Y-Yeah…" Konata did the same. The complete lack of clothes made the whole thing a little more intense than usual. They stayed silent for a minute and calmed down again.

"How about we go back? I think it was quite a success already."

"Good idea Kagamin~. This…" Konata looked at her. "… and the extra heat of the water is pretty extreme."

"Yeah, one of each is hot enough already…"

"Sure, I'm the pervert here…"

"Yep- let's get out of here before we get dizzy."

The two got out of the water, reclaimed their clothes and left the hot spring. Konata walked hand in hand back to the villa without exchanging even a single word. There was just no need to talk. Both arrived at the villa ten minutes later and went to the living room where they found the other two.

"Well…"

"… I wasn't expecting this…" Kagami and Konata found Miyuki and Tsukasa sleeping arm in arm on the sofa.

"Okay… I prepared to get interrogated by them, but that… what happened?"

"Kona… it's those two… They played all day at the sea they were visiting and got so exhausted that the two fell asleep the moment they arrived at the living room again."

"That's way too easy… No, you're probably right…" Konata agreed pretty quick with her.

"The hugging is a bit hard to explain, but…"

"If Tsukasa sleep-hugs just half as much as you do, it's pretty easy to explain…"

"Hey… yeah, you're right. Well, whatever happened, they're still too innocent to do it on purpose."

"That's for sure."

"I'm rather happy, though. If they're still awake, it could've gotten pretty embarrassing."

"Yep."

The two watched them a while, but then, after covering both with a blanket, they decided to leave them alone.

"H-Hey, Kona, let's go to bed…"

"Nah, I'm not really tired."

"Neither am I… S-Still, let's go."

"Why? That makes…" Konata finally looked at Kagami's face and noticed the deep red blush. "H-Huh? Y-You…" The took a deep breath. "Okay."

Kagami gently grabbed Konata's hand and the two went to their room.

* * *

.

Okay, first… I'm a little sorry that the update took way longer than expected, but hey, extra-long chapter as a compensation or so…. I was pretty busy lately… Okay, that's not true… I got extremely hooked up on light novels and spent the end of November and the entire December reading in every free minute I had… Another world stories really are nice, especially the cute ones. The lack of yuri is alarming, though. There is way too much focus on stories for inexperienced 13-year-old boys. 80% is a harem and that's mostly… well, whatever… There are some okayish harems with actual developing romance, but those are extremely rare. Most of them are sadly just pure fanservice… Anyway, where was I again? Light novels… If someone wants to try a little, Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear for something cute is one of my favorites. Only Sense Online is also quite a fun read (VRMMO, though).

Uhh… Back to my story, I guess…

This chapter took a rather unexpected turn in the second half. I haven't planned it… It just somehow happened bit by bit while writing it. I'm rather satisfied with the result, even though it got a bit, or rather pretty bumpy here and there. It maybe was a little early, but it fitted so well in the setting, my opinion, that it basically happened on its own.

The next chapter… Here it gets complicated again… First off, I still have a lot of light novels on my 'Still to read' list and not to mention that most of them I already read are still updating… The more important point is something different, though. I'm planning to do a first time-skip. I have very few things left for the second year of the girls and want to quickly advance them to their third year in high school, where I already have some setting prepared. I'm still not sure if I should add Yutaka, Minami, and co, though. The problem I have with the skip is the transition and how long. Maybe a story when fall is going on or go directly to winter, although I think that's a bit too long… Questions over questions I still have to answer myself. Maybe I'll use it also and try to get their characters back in order a bit, but then, I like what I did with them, especially cheeky Kagami, so… probably not… That being said… Next chapter will come whenever, but it'll come.

P.S.: Nope, not going to go M-Rated in this story. Barely safe is all I can do.


	26. Studying

"It sure stinks, though…"

"But still, fall sure is great~. The temperature's finally going down to something tolerable again, a new anime season is about to start and tons of mangas are back from their summer hiatus."

"Lower temperatures definitely are great, but once fall starts… I always am getting so sleepy…" Tsukasa partially agreed with Konata's statement, but for some reason, she got some very dubious looks from the others once the words 'once fall starts' fell.

"Personally, I love to read in fall…" Miyuki also got some questioning looks. "I-I mean even more than usual…" She quickly corrected herself.

"That's all nice, well, most of it, but fall definitely is for studying. After all, the midterm exams will start soon enough." Kagami's smile while she said that was just a tiny bit evil because she was quite enjoying the complete change of the facial expression of two girls, Miyuki remained indifferent, though.

"K-Kagamin's~ sadistic side sure is growing… or showing more often?"

"Tehe~."

"That so doesn't help you at all…"

The four girls were, as usual, having a lively chat during their lunch break in school. Summer break, including their trip to the beach, was long over and September had just changed into October. Nothing much has changed since then, though. Konata and Kagami were still the same lovey-dovey couple they have ever been, well since way before they started dating even, although Kagami was getting more assertive. More than she already was in the first place, that is. Miyuki and Tsukasa on the other hand… No, there's also no change over there. Nobody's sure what exactly is going on between them. It seems like there's more than the eye can tell, but at the same time, it also didn't. Konata and Kagami were pretty confused by them because there were definitely signs, but the two in question were even more confused, sort of. Both weren't exactly sure what they want from each other, but also still didn't care about it. They knew that they enjoy the time spent together and everything else didn't matter. Whatever happens, happens was their motto. Kagami and Konata stopped reading too much into them in the end because it always only resulted in a headache. An occasional push in the right direction at a suitable time still happened, though. In the first place, the two were too busy with each other. Spending every free minute together was hard work after all. No, for them, it really wasn't. The only difficult part was to decide at whose place they met up. Both houses had some drawbacks lately. Konata's father keeps asking Kagami for opinions and help with his, now in the third volume, light novel, which was rather bothersome in her eyes, but Konata had an even harder time at Kagami's house. Miki has become rather suspicious lately and Konata obviously had a pretty bad feeling about it. She did her best to ignore Miki, but too much ignoring would only raise more suspicions in the end. Balancing it was pretty hard for someone who can't be subtle or discrete about, well, anything.

"I'm looking forward to working with you, Kona." Kagami ignored her and only added more to Konata's suspicion.

"Geh… looks like I'm not getting any sleep this weekend, huh? Because of an unreasonable amount of studying forced on me by you, that is…"

"Exactly."

"Yay…" Konata's eyes looked pretty lifeless, or rather, completely dead.

"Hey, Yuki-chan, can we also study together?"

"Of course, sounds good to me."

"Great!" Tsukasa and Miyuki had a much more relaxed view of studying together.

"Kagamin~…" Konata leaned over to her and started whispering. "Who's the couple here again?"

"Are you dissatisfied about we're handling things?"

"If it's alright with you, I would like the withdraw my previous question."

"Good girl."

….

The following days progressed smoothly and the weekend arrived soon enough. Kagami entered Konata's house and had just opened the door to her room.

"Hey, Kona, are you ready for a weekend full of nothing, but studying?"

"You're waaay too eager, Kagamin~." Konata was looking forward to Monday already. "There's nothing to look forward to… I mean it's not like I have a chance in the first place."

"Come on, a weekend's nothing compared to what we're doing in more or less a year."

"Eh? What's going to happen in a year?"

"Preparations for our college entrance exams."

"We're also going to study together for that?"

"Of course." Simple and determined.

"Even though you're going to that elite college in uhm… ah, Yokohama, while I'm settling for a local one? If I'm going to a college in the first place, that is…"

"Kona, first off, not going to a college isn't going to happen. I'll personally take care of that."

"What are you, my dad?"

"Something similar… wait…" Kagami realized that something was off.

"I'm not sure if I'm okay with that, Kagamin~…"

"Yeah… I definitely am not… I have no idea where I was going with that… A-Anyway, what I said is true and the more you study, the better is your college going to be.

"…" Konata had a hard time finding an argument against her, but there was nothing good that came to mind. "Well, let's save that for when it's time for it. I just want to survive the weekend first for now."

"Sure, I don't mind, after all, I'm going to win anyway, no matter when…"

"Haa…" Konata was already pretty exhausted even before the studying started. She knew that Kagami's right and it's certain that she's going to win every argument on that topic. Konata was even a bit happy that Kagami cared about her future that much, but in the end, studying is just something extremely bothersome for the time being. The only good part of studying was the time spent with Kagami and exactly that was the only motivation.

"Let's start already, Kona."

"Sure~…" Konata reluctantly left her desk and moved towards the small table in the middle of her room. Kagami joined her and sat down at the opposite side of it. The fist subject to study was math. Kagami thought it would be the best to start with Konata's most hated subject first, but it had the opposite effect because she was already eying the window in order to jump out of it.

Two hours of diligent studying passed and Kagami thought it was time for a little break. The reason for that was pretty easy. Konata wasn't complaining like she usually did, but she wasn't studying anymore either. For 20 minutes already, she was just watching Kagami in front of her without even trying to hide it.

"Soo, I haven't seen your father yet, Kona… Has he holed himself up in his room again?"

"Nah, meeting with his editor because… uh… something… I forgot because I didn't care, but I think it was something bigger because he won't be back before Monday…"

"Poor guy, but that's good to know. A weekend without him pestering me about his light novel is…"

"Should I ask?" Konata still was a little interested in the whole light novel thing and her father frequently asking Kagami about her opinion only piqued it more.

"If you want to know, ask him yourself."

"Hmm…" She was interested, but not to this degree.

"Wait, now that I think about it… don't… you would be better off without asking him…"

"Ehh?"

"Just trust me on that, Kona."

"Uh… What age restriction do the books of my father have?"

"I'm not you, Kona." Kagami's glance at Konata's PC was only to further prove her accusation.

"Well… A-Anyway… what were we doing again?"

"Studying for our exams, still math, to be exact."

"I see… Anything else? With that, I mean, anything more interesting?"

"Nope~."

"Figured as much…"

"Come on, focus."

"Yeeees…"

The two refocused on the books in front of them and another two hours passed. Konata had finally enough and her head hit the table with a loud thud.

"Wow… that must've hurt quite a bit…"

"Y-Yes…" Konata had miscalculated the force by a great margin and started nursing her bright red forehead.

"You okay?" It was so red that Kagami actually started worrying a bit.

"More or less… I might've lost a few problems I studied from the impact, though."

"I see. Well, that just means we have to add another hour to make up for it." Her worries were wasted on Konata.

"No way… Wait! Ah! I-I just remembered them! False alarm… We can safely stop now!"

"Sure… Well, I also have enough for now and we, or I, are anyway done with math."

"Finally! It's rather late already, though… We aren't starting another subject today, right? Right?!" It was important and so Konata asked twice.

"No, I think we'll continue tomorrow morning with fresh vigor. Studying while being tired isn't very effective after all."

"My late-night cramming tells another story if you ask me."

"Well then, let's continue, Kona." Kagami gave her a little smirk while saying so.

"… Why am I so stupid?"

"Good question~."

"Hey… Okay, but no, let's go with your plan. I like that one way better."

"I wonder why. Tomorrow and Sunday are going to be two topics each, though."

"Yay~… I hate my life…" Konata had already more than enough and got a bit depressed.

"No, you don't."

"Okay, only the school related part of it."

"That's also not true."

"Well, you are there… Okay, I hate everything that exhausts my brain related to it…"

"Oh, I can actually believe that bit."

"Weird… What else do we have to study again? I kind of forgot…"

"Kona…" Kagami shook her head. "Left is English, Japanese, history… oh, and economics… You know, production costs, supply and demand, prices, market analysis, taxes, marketing and stuff."

"Wow…" Konata was looking at her window again. The chances that she'll actually jump out of it just increased again.

"Especially economics will be hell… I think we have to sacrifice almost a complete day for it…"

"Hmm? Isn't economics the by far easiest subject?" Konata had a perfectly straight face while asking so.

"No, absolutely no way!"

"Ehh?" Konata didn't understand her.

"Huh?" The two apparently weren't on the same wavelength.

"Nonono, that's the only subject I'm actually confident in, Kagamin~. It has to be easy then."

"Wait a moment… You're actually good at economics?"

"Yes… Is it really that surprising? No, never mind that… Forget that I asked."

"No, that's not what I meant, Kona. Actually… I'm mediocre at best in economics…"

"Ehh?! Seriously? But it's so easy~."

"It's true… All these analyses, calculations, charts to find out whether a product is going to sell or not, how to advertise efficiently or how the market works… I don't get it at all!"

"Heeh~, I wasn't expecting that at all." Konata looked pretty smug right now.

"Me neither… What's your trick, Kona? Did you find something easy to study, like a guide?"

"Did you really just ask me that right now?"

"Uhh… sorry, I forgot who I was talking with… So, how?"

"Well… There's no trick to it… I just saw the stuff and directly understood it…" Konata awkwardly scratched her cheek because she had no good explanation.

"That means you're naturally good at it, huh?"

"I guess so…"

"Do you like it as well?"

"It's my least hated subject at least… Well, it's kind of interesting and especially the marketing stuff is rather fun… Marketing is also not that bad, I guess."

"Ohh~, is that so? Interesting, very interesting…" Kagami suddenly started smiling, pretty strong, even, for some reason.

"Eh? What's wrong, Kagamin~? You look a little scarier than usual."

"Nothing, everything's fine~." Her suspicious smile didn't vanish, though.

"Sure…"

"Well then, I'll be counting on you when we come to economics on Sunday, Kona."

"Ah, that's what it was? O-Okay, leave it to me… probably… I still need you for every other subject…"

"No problem. I was expecting four more and not just three in the first place, so… sure."

"Great, more or less, but first, let's do something more relaxing for the rest of the day, Kagamin~."

"Okay, sounds good to me. Not much of the day is left, though."

"Hmm… let's be creative and say a movie?"

"Very creative, but sure, why not?" Kagami agreed to her proposal, closed the study books and moved to the bed.

"Good." Konata grabbed the remote and joined Kagami without holding back. While not even asking, she just sat down on Kagami's lap and she pressed her body against her.

"You comfortable there?" She asked, but it didn't look like she was mining it even a bit.

"Very~."

"I see, well then…" Kagami didn't want to leave it one-sidedly and so she wrapped her arms around Konata's waist and began to rest her head on her shoulder.

"You, too, look pretty comfy yourself, Kagamin~."

"Just your imagination~."

"Is that so?"

"Yep~."

More than 15 minutes passed with them staying like that before the two noticed something.

"Hey, Kagamin~, aren't we forgetting something?"

"Hmm?" Kagami started thinking. "Uhh… Oh, right, we wanted to watch a movie, didn't we?"

"Did we? Ah… That would explain why I'm holding the TV remote…"

"You're pretty forgetful, Kona."

"Oh, shut up." Konata finally turned the TV on and quickly found a watchable movie. The two watched the whole movie without moving an inch from their position and afterward, it was soon, according to Kagami, time to sleep.

…

The next day. A day of pure hell in Konata's eyes. Directly after finishing breakfast, Kagami had directly chained her to the table in her room and was forced to study from dawn till dusk. Today's subjects were English and Japanese. The only allowed break was when they had lunch. Konata actually went to the window somewhere in the second half of the study session, but she just opened it for fresh air and after enviously looking at the ground from it, she went back to the table. Evening arrived and Kagami had finally decided that it was enough for today. After hearing those heavenly words, Konata immediately stood up, jumped on her bed and crashed face first into her pillow. She was totally done for. Kagami sat down next to her and gently patted her head while praising her hard work of the day.

…

The last day of the study session, or hell, Sunday, arrived. Kagami woke up early and decided to have a small head start because they're going to start with economics, her worst subjected. Konata almost needed another whole hour before she responded to her surroundings again.

"… Morning…" Konata greeted her and yawned while rubbing her eyes at the same time.

"Good morning, Kona."

"Why are we two together again?" She was still half asleep, but was pretty amazed at the difference in motivation.

"Hmm?"

"We're pretty different after all, aren't we?" There was no way that Konata would study in the morning right after waking up on her own.

"You think so? I think we're pretty similar." Kagami didn't agree with her.

"Nonono…"

"Kona, just swap what's important to me, like studying, with something that's important to you, like anime, and think again."

"Well… I guess that point goes to you."

"Good… How about joining me now?"

"Nah, I guess I'll need another ten minutes or so… Oh, about you join me instead~?" Konata tried to sound a little suggestive while she patted the place next to her on the bed.

"Not now."

"Oho, that's already more than I was expecting." Konata was pretty much awake by now and so it didn't take much longer until she also finally left the bed. She joined Kagami at the table and simply watched her studying for nearly 20 minutes because the motivation to study on her own had a negative value.

"Hey, Kona, let's test if you're really good at economics… This question here makes absolutely no sense at all to me…" Kagami showed Konata her study book and pointed at something.

"Let me see…" She took a look at it and continued. "Isn't this just about how good or bad a product sells?"

"Huh… And the diagram right next to it?"

"It shows what happens with the price of a product if the supply or demand changes. Basically… if you want to sell something at the best price possible, you have to take care of the demand because if you have a lot of a product nobody wants, the value, or price, will drop. The same goes in a certain way for the other direction. If you can't keep up with it, meaning the supply is low, the price will rise. That sounds good at first, but you want to find the point where you neither have too much, not enough of your product because that's the most efficient way. You want to find the point where you have a stable price and for that, the supply and demand have to be equal."

"…" The day where Kagami actually got taught something school related by Konata arrived and that made her speechless.

"Something's wrong, Kagamin~?"

"N-No… I was just wondering if the world's going to end soon…"

"Ehh?"

"Well… You're teaching me something while I was thinking about an apocalyptic event…"

"That's a pretty valid point." Konata nodded at the odd situation.

"Nonetheless, thanks for the explanation, I think I finally understood it."

"I'm good after all." She looked pretty proud.

"Don't get cocky now."

"That's a rather difficult request…"

"Do your best, Kona."

"Maybe~."

The two continued their studies, well, Kagami did at least. Konata was actually confident enough to plow through economics without studying and using the free time to study another subject didn't cross her mind even once. Well, that's not entirely true, though. She became quite the model student in the subject of studying Kagami, but that one's not going to be tested. A couple hours passed and the progress was mostly pretty smooth. Kagami asked her quite a few questions and she actually got decent answers to every single one. She was really amazed by this, but Konata's cockiness increased with every answer and that wasn't amazing at all in Kagami's eyes. There wasn't much room left until Kagami would finally snap.

"Although I'm going to regret it… Wow, you're almost too good at this stuff, Kona…"

"Ehehe, that's just how I am.

"Sure… Seriously, though, you should continue to invest a little bit of time here and there in economics. It would be such a waste to ignore such a talent."

"That's too much of a hassle and what's the point of doing it on my own if I can't tease you with it?"

"Kona…"

"What? I'm serious, there's absolutely no reason."

"Will you shut up already?"

"Make me~." Konata was in a pretty good mood.

"Sure~." Kagami leaned over the table, grabbed Konata's collar, pulled her close and sealed her lips with her own. She finally had enough and that was the easiest way. "How about that… If you continue, you'll occasionally get rewarded." Kagami parted from her lips for a moment and made an interesting proposal while giving her a small wink. There's no way she'll let Konata off the hook after finding out that she has a talent that's actually promising and not related to anime and co. or useless trivia. Cooking aside, that is.

"Hmm…" Konata started thinking, but never replied. She just closed the distance for another kiss again, grabbed Kagami's shoulders and pulled her over to her side of the table. The proposal actually wasn't the trigger. Konata had already lost it after the first kiss because the whole studying on the weekend caused quite a lot of stress to be pent up in her. Kagami didn't stop her, though. Rather, it looked more like she welcomed it. Thanks to the pulling across the table, she landed on top of Konata and stayed there. Kagami pushed her down and kissed her a couple more times. It continued like this for quite a while and then, long story short, the studying for history, that was scheduled for the rest of the day, never happened.

…..

The next week, exam week started and things looked pretty bad. Kagami didn't mind getting a _little sidetracked_ because it was easily as much her fault as it was Konata's. She had thought she could still study enough the remaining week between the tests because history was usually the last test. That's also why Kagami saved history for the last subject to study on the weekend and also hadn't done any prior studying on top of it, but all of this was a terribly huge mistake. Her face went completely pale when she looked at the exam schedule in school. The first subject on Monday morning was, of course, history. Needless to say, but it was a complete disaster for her and so obviously even more for Konata. The remaining subjects were pretty good for both, though.

The week went by in a flash and before even noticing, the weekend had arrived. Konata was alone for a rare change and decided to dust off her net game in order to leisurely play for a few hours, but that was way too optimistic. The loading screen had not even finished when she heard the notification sound already.

 **Nanakon:** Izumi!

 **Konakona:** Sensei!

 **Nanakon:** You online again? Got dumped already?

 **Konakona:** How rude! -.-

 **Nanakon:** Just kidding~. I'm happy that someone capable is online again.

 **Konakona:** Is that so? I may became a bit rusty, though.

 **Nanakon:** You're probably still twice as good as the guys I usually have to party with thanks to a certain someone having a fulfilled real life.

 **Konakona:** Can't say I'm sorry.

Nanakon: Well, I'm also not sorry about your midterm exams. Let's talk about that first.

\- Konakona has logged off –

Nanakon: Oi…

\- Konakona has logged in –

 **Konakona:** Sorry, just reacted on instincts…

 **Nanakon:** Sure… Well, good news first?

 **Konakona:** Okay ;;

 **Nanakon:** You were pretty decent in English, Japanese and Math, way above your usual ranking to be exact.

 **Konakona:** Oh, that's nice to hear.

 **Nanakon:** But economics… what the hell?! o.O

 **Konakona:** Ehh?!

 **Nanakon:** You're only two points behind Takara, who almost got a perfect score!

 **Konakona:** Damn, I should've studied a bit for economics after all…

 **Nanakon:** What?! You did that without studying?! Wait, did your account here was hacked again= Who are you?

 **Konakona:** Sensei… -.- I just couldn't be bothered to study for that because it is too easy…

 **Nanakon:** It does sound like Izumi, but at the same time, it didn't… Sensei's confused…

 **Konakona:** It's not my fault that it's so easy!

 **Nanakon:** Well, whatever, let's kill the mood with the bad news.

 **Konakona:** Yay ;;

 **Nanakon:** You completely failed your history test and as your history teacher, it makes me pretty sad, especially seeing your remarkable grades everywhere else.

 **Konakona:** Ahaha, can't say I'm that surprised…

 **Nanakon:** What happened?

 **Konakona:** Well, stuff happened that made it impossible to finish studying…

 **Nanakon:** Okay, I won't ask. Anyway, even more shocking was that Hiiragi also failed…

 **Konakona:** Wait? It's more surprising that Tsukasa failed than me?! I'm pretty hurt! I mean… you know?

 **Nanakon:** No, I'm not talking about her, well she also failed, but I'm talking about yours, the big Hiiragi.

 **Konakona:** Oh, I see. That makes more sense.

 **Nanakon:** Yes.

 **Konakona:** Wait.

 **Konakona:** What?

 **Konakona:** Eh?

 **Konakona:** No?

 **Konakona:** Hahaha, good one!

 **Konakona:** Really?!

 **Konakona:** No way!

 **Konakona:** Oh noooo

 **Konakona:** I'm dead!

 **Konakona:** I'm soooo dead!

 **Konakona:** Sensei, can you please come over to my place and delete everything on my PC in a few days after I haven't visited school? You can keep everything on this account, but nobody can see what's on this PC after I died!

 **Nanakon:** Aren't you overreacting a bit?

 **Konakona:** Haha, good one, sensei -.- ;;

 **Nanakon:** What's wrong?

 **Konakona:** Kagamin~ and I studied together and like I earlier said, stuff happened…

 **Nanakon:** Okay, I definitely won't ask now.

 **Konakona:** I even wasn't exactly my fault alone, but I'm not innocent either and thus, I'm dead.

 **Nanakon:** Well just try to survive until coming Friday when the make up test happens. I'll give you a little service because the others will get informed about it on Monday. Get a little head start on the weekend and study lots.

 **Konakona:** Okay ;;

 **Nanakon:** And maybe, just maybe, I'll change the difficulty of it a little if I like your answer to my next question.

 **Konakona:** Sensei, let's go on a raid until I start studying tomorrow, okay?

 **Nanakon:** Oh, that just scored you a lot of bonus points.

 **Konakona:** How long do I have to play in order to get a passing grade?

 **Nanakon:** I'm not that nice.

 **Konakona:** Aww, well, let's start looking for a party now.

 **Nanakon:** Good idea!

…..

Konata got a little under three hours of sleep that night and made her way over to Kagami's house on the next morning. Miki opened the door there and welcomed her in.

"Oh, good morning, Konata. Wait, did something happen? You don't look very healthy…" Miki noticed the dark circles under Konata's eyes and how she overall looked pretty exhausted and a bit tense.

"I just haven't slept much… Oh, and I'm going to die soon…"

"W-What?!" She obviously was pretty shocked.

"N-No, I mean Kagamin~'s going to kill me soon because of something school related."

"P-Please don't scare me like that! I thought you were sick or something for a second just now."

"Sorry… I'm perfectly fine health wise."

"That's good. It would be way too sad… especially…"

"Hmm?" Konata raised an eyebrow, but then decided to ignore it. "Well, today's still my last day on earth, though…"

"That bad?"

"Yes… You see, I was at least partly at fault that we both failed on of our midterm exams…"

"O-Oh! Oh… Uhh…" She was even more shocked by this that thinking Konata was sick. "Good luck, I guess…? My condolences…"

"Thanks…"

"I think she's in Tsukasa's room right now."

"Okay, I'll be going then…"

"She was so young… What a terrible tragedy."

Konata just shook her head while going upstairs and entered Tsukasa's room where she found the twins.

"… Morning."

"Oh, good morning, Kona-chan."

"Morning… Wow, you look pretty bad, Kona."

"Thanks, I love you, too."

"Well, onee-chan has a point…"

"It's just a slight lack of sleep and that I got some bad news."

"Let's ignore the obvious and go straight to those news."

"I talked with Kuroi-sensei about our midterms yesterday and…"

"Oh…" Tsukasa was already ready to flee.

"'You and Hiiragi failed the history test~ - is what she told me."

"Kona, Tsukasa and I are both Hiiragis, so…"

"Onee-chan, it's obvious who…" Tsukasa wanted to say something, but Konata was faster.

"That doesn't really matter when she means both, does it?"

"Ehhh?!" Tsukasa was the shocked one.

"Well, I had a feeling that it would be close, but I guess it wasn't enough in the end, huh? It can't be helped." Kagami was unusually calm about it.

"H-Huh?!" That's not the reaction Konata was expecting and she instantly hid behind Tsukasa because she was scared by this calmness.

"D-Don't hide behind me! Where should I hide myself now, Kona-chan?!" She wasn't the only one who felt that way.

"Calm down, Kona. We never studied for history after all and so I kind of saw it coming already. We're both equally at fault and so you don't need to feel bad about it. We just have to get a good grade at the make up exam, right?"

"T-That's true…" Konata had no idea what was going on right now.

"We're going to study a lot then. By the way, what's your excuse, sis?"

"W-Well… Yuki-chan and I were studying together… When history came up… I… uh… fell asleep and Yuki-chan tried her best, but couldn't wake me up again on that Sunday…"

"I see… That's…

"Yep, that's Tsukasa for you."

"But why didn't you two study?" Tsukasa wanted to get the attention away from her, but stepped on a landmine.

"No comment." The two immediately shot her down.

"By any chance, you haven't gotten any hints from Kuroi-sensei, right?"

"Please~. More than that… Why do you think I nearly haven't slept last night?"

"Uhh, because you played all night long?"

"Yes… with Kuroi-sensei, though, and now I know the date of the make up test, most of the contents and I even managed to lower the difficulty quite a bit."

"K-Kona-chan… you're the best!"

"And Kagamin~ says my gaming is useless…"

"Shut up…"

"It wasn't cheap, though… All the precious rare loot I used as a bribe…"

"You're so hopeless, Kona, but I guess Sensei's even worse, huh? Thank you for your noble sacrifice for the greater good."

"You're welcome, Kagamin~, and thanks for not ending my life today."

"Like I said, we're both at fault. It still means we're going to earnestly study until the test and without any sidetracking. Because of that, Tsukasa's going to study together with us."

"Yay?" Tsukasa was happy and confused at the same time.

"Sure, that's for the best." Konata wasn't really happy, but she understood the reason and accepted it.

"Okay then, tell us what you found out, Kona."

"Sure." Konata told them what info she got from Kuroi-sensei and once she finished, the three girls immediately started studying. Sunday went by before they even noticed. Monday arrived and the four, now including Miyuki, were comparing their test scores in the lunch break at school.

"Wow, onee-chan really did fail in history after all… Her score's still higher than mine, though…"

"Yeah, just two points below the passing grade… rather regretful."

"But how's that even possible, Kagami-san?" Miyuki asked while looking at her other scores. "I mean, all your other grades are as good as usual. Hmm? Oh, Izumi-san's the same, no, even more extreme…" She shifted her gaze to Konata's scores. "Most of her marks are way better than before, but history's also, well, a total catastrophe. Especially economics, it's almost the same score I have!"

"Well, Kagamin~ and I got distracted at the same time and time and so a similar scoring isn't that weird."

"Distracted?"

"Stuff happened, don't ask."

"Okay… But Izumi-san, your economics score really is remarkable. How much did you study for it because I had a rather hard time with it…?"

"Your score tells a different story, Miyuki." Konata wasn't sure if she could agree with her.

"I made up for it by investing more time in it."

"I see, you're probably not going to like my answer then…"

"Why?"

"Kona here didn't study at all for it."

"Seriously?!"

"Yep, what Kagamin~ said."

"Wow, that's really impressive. This means you're naturally good at it, huh?"

"I guess so…"

"It wouldn't be a bad idea to keep going at it. I heard we're going to need it in our third year quite a bit and it could be interesting for when high school is over…"

"Thank you, Miyuki, thank you very much." Kagami was happy that she found someone who supports her idea.

"Do I really have absolutely no saying in that?"

"Nope~."

"Figured as much…"

Lunch break ended soon after that and when school ended, Konata directly went with the twins to their house in order to study for the test on Friday. The same program continued all the way until the make up test.

The day in question arrived and after school ended for most students, the three and a few poor other students did their test. It only took a little over and hour and everyone obviously, after studying so much, passed without any problems at all and so their well-earned weekend finally arrived.

…..

Just like the last couple days, Konata accompanied Kagami and Tsukasa to their house. Only two of them stayed there, though. Tsukasa grabbed a few things and immediately left for Miyuki's house.

"Well, she hasn't visited her for a week after all…"

"Yeah, I, as well, wouldn't waste any time after not visiting Kagamin~ for so long, or you visiting me after all…"

"That's true… Wait, aren't we a bit different in that regard?"

"Oh, yeah… I forgot about that again. I really don't get those two at all in the end…"

"They're just… uh… No, I don't get them either." Kagami tried to give an explanation, but failed because she also wasn't sure about the relationship of Miyuki and Tsukasa. "Anyway, want to go to my room?"

"Hmm… not a bad idea, but actually, I'm a bit hungry… Is there any food available?"

"Oh, that sounds like a better idea, let's have a look in the kitchen."

"As usual, Kagamin~ gets pretty eager when the word 'food' gets mentioned."

"Shut up."

"Come on, let me have some of those rare-getting teasing moments."

"So… We have some leftover rice, chicken, and vegetable…" Kagami splendidly ignored her and was looking for ingredients. "That should be enough for some simple fried rice, right?"

"Yep. Okay, training session, you cook and I'll criticize."

"You're just too lazy to do it on your own, aren't you, Kona?"

"Don't mind those small times… I mean of course not!"

"Sure…" Kagami was spot on, but still started preparing everything.

The cooking didn't need much time and Konata had nothing to criticize. The two finished eating and then went to Kagami's room.

"So… have I left any good games here to play?"

"Hmm… I think I still have that beat 'em up we used to play somewhere…"

"Maybe we should make a list of what is at whose place to keep track, Kagamin~."

"No use, that list would change almost daily anyway."

"That's true. Well, let's play the game for now. Finally, something I can easily beat you at again."

"Something's still left, huh?"

"Oi!"

"Hehe~."

The two started the game and played for some time. Konata wanted to let out some steam and so, Kagami didn't even win one match, nor did she even got close to winning once. Two hours passed and Konata suddenly remembered something.

"Oh… I completely forgot to tell my dad my score of the make up test… He wanted to buy me something if it was good."

"Your dad sure is great at handling you…"

"Jealous?"

"Not really. I think I'm decently good at it myself by now…"

"Sadly, yes, that's true…"

"Hehe… Still, your dad wants to buy you something even though you had to redo a test, Kona?"

"This time the bet was on the average score of all tests combined. Even though I failed one, all points together still were more than enough. He said when I pass the make up decently enough, I'll get my reward.

"I see, good for you. Have you already decided on your reward?"

"Hmm… Maybe I'll get some cosplay…"

"Kona… If you make your dad buy a cosplay costume for me, I'll kill you and with that I mean, literally ending your life."

"I-I'll keep that in mind and will buy it on my own and pick something else as my reward."

"I can't say I'm much happier with that, either…"

"You want to go together with me when looking for it?"

"Hmm…"

"Oh~, I'll tell you when we go! Well, I guess I'll head back home for today. Will you come over tomorrow?"

"Sure, I have nothing else planned, Kona."

Kagami accompanied her downstairs and Konata was about to leave.

"Well then, see you tomorrow, Kagamin~. Bye." Konata opened the door and stepped out of the house, but got stopped midway. Kagami went between her and the steps in front of the house.

"Aren't you forgetting something?"

"What a spoiled girl, but sure… I'm very sorry for forgetting."

"As long as you understand."

"Hehe." Konata bent forward a little and gave the other girl a small good-bye kiss on the lips. After parting, Konata thought for a second that she saw a person passing the street in front of Kagami's house, but she was sure that it was just her imagination.

"Very good. Bye, Kona, see you tomorrow." She was smiling from ear to ear and went back inside her house.

"Sure…" Konata finally left, went around a corner of the street and quickly found out that it wasn't just her imagination earlier.

"Hello there, Kona."

"O-Oh, M-Miki… hey… What brings you to this remote area?" She had a bad feeling. A very, very bad feeling.

"I live here."

"Right… Now that you say it… W-Well, I have to go now, see you later, Miki." Konata took exactly one step before she felt a hand with a pretty strong grip on her shoulder.

"Not so fast there, Konata~." Miki's voice sounded as cheerful as ever, but for some reason, Konata was extremely scared and cold sweat was running down her spine.

"U-Uhm…"

"There's a lovely little café nearby. How about we go there and have a nice little chat together? Don't worry about it, I'll pay for everything." That wasn't the problem here.

"Ehm… I'm actually rather busy right now, so…" Konata really didn't want to go.

"Konata, declining is not an option." Even her voice sounded a little scary now and so Konata had no other choice.

"I-I see… Well then, p-please lead the way…" She gave up and accepted her fate while trembling a little.

"Very good, please follow me then." Saying that, Miki and Konata went to the nearby café and the two had a nice chat together.

* * *

.

Yay, a decent length chapter!

I hope you like the ending, though. Cliffhangers sure are nice~. Well, actually, it was going to be another hyper long chapter and so I decided to step on the break here.

I wasn't expecting to be this fast either and even more, but my inspiration was stong lately and the next chapter's also half way done already… (I had way too much fun with the talk of Miki and Konata and I think I may have to tone it down a bit…)

Poor Konata, though, she really has no saying in anything anymore. Well, at least Kagami only wants her best, most of the times, that is.

I actually have no idea how midterm exams work (never had them where I live) but I'm sure a weekend wouldn't be sufficient in the first place, but hey, plot convenience and stuff. I actually liked economics myself back then in school, but it's been too long and so the bits of my explanations are probably wrong, but please don't mind if it's possible.

Next chapter is, like I already said, half way done and so I'm relatively confident that I'll have it ready in the next two, maybe three weeks. Definitely in February, though. (Then again, I still have tons of light novels to read and I'm finally able to play Pokémon moon… No, I'll have it done.) Content's probably self-explanatory after the end.

Oh, I just saw that I'm lenght wise already in the top ten of Lucky Star fanfictions. Well, let's aim for the top three. First one with over 500k is way too overkill.


	27. Miki, conversations and a sleepover

Chapter 27.

After giving her a goodbye kiss, Konata had left Kagami's house and immediately ran into her girlfriend's mother, Miki, who was returning home and instantly started panicking. She wasn't 100% sure that Miki had seen them kissing, but looking at how she was acting right now and how Konata thought she saw a person on the street after parting from Kagami's lips, it left little to no room for doubts. She was forcefully abducted by Miki to a nearby café, where the two sat down at a table in an empty corner. It was a rather modern and cute looking café, but that was the least of Konata's worries at the moment. Both each ordered a cup of tea and took a sip from it. Some time passed and Konata couldn't take the smiling face of Miki, which had no trace of warmness to it, anymore, but luckily(?), she finally said something.

"How was the make up test, Konata?"

"E-Eh? Uh… It was good. Kagamin~, Tsukasa and I all passed without any problems at all…"

"That's good to hear. How did you do in the other exams?"

"There were no problems in the first place. Mostly thanks to Kagamin~, I did pretty well in my other subjects I'm not good at."

"Very nice, well done, but next time, do it without having to take a make up, okay?"

"S-Sure… I'll try my best…" Konata had no idea what was going on anymore and was unable to understand the situation she was in.

"How did that happen in the first place?"

"W-Who knows... I have no idea…"

"Really? Well, it's no use to lament over spilled milk anyway, right?"

"That's true…" Konata started to think that Miki maybe was just a little angry that Kagami had to take a make up test, but those hopeful thoughts were useless.

"Sooo~…" Miki's expression changed again.

"Y-Yes?!" It was over. Just when Konata was thinking she still had a chance, Miki splendidly crushed those hopes she built up herself before. With just a single glance at her face, Konata knew that she and Kagami got found out. Her head hung low and she prayed for mercy.

"How long?"

"… L-Last week marks three months." Konata gave up, something deep inside her told her that even trying was useless.

"Is that so?"

"Yes…"

"Does that mean it happened around Kagami's birthday?"

"It was her actual birthday, to be precise."

"Oh, so the necklace Kagami got from you was…"

"Yes."

"Were you the one who confessed?"

"I was." It felt like an interrogation and so Konata decided to stick to short and precise answers for the time being.

"How?"

"I used a Tanabata wish as an excuse before actually voicing out my feelings."

"Shy, huh?"

"It couldn't be helped."

"How long did Kagami need to give you an answer?"

"There was no noteworthy delay."

"Oho, that means it was a mutual thing right from the confession, huh?"

"She told me she also was planning to confess to me on the following day."

"My Kagami also wanted to confess?"

"That's what she said."

"Interesting… Three months is it, right?"

"Yes."

"Are you happy?"

"Like I never was before in my life!"

"Hmm, that was fast. Did you two went through any hardships already?"

"Yes, mainly small to big misunderstandings."

"And?"

"Nothing. We had a small fight thanks to it once, but we talked it out and just grew closer with it."

"No hard feelings left?"

"None."

"I see… Do you love her?"

"From the bottom of my heart."

"Immediate answer, huh?"

"There's no reason to ponder for a fraction of a second after all."

"Do you think Kagami feels the same about you?"

"I KNOW that she feels the same and there's no reason I'm ever going doubt it."

"Wow… Why do you love her?"

"She's everything I ever hoped for in my life and even more. A best friend, a girlfriend, and a soulmate in one person. Someone to talk, laugh, bicker, fight, cry, and whatever with. She's the only person who can make me feel comfortable and restless at the same time. Not even a single second spent with her was boring. Teasing her, getting teased in return… Ehm, how long should I continue? This could take quite a while…" Konata shortly stopped her declaration of love towards Kagami.

"I-It's okay already."

"If you say so…" She sounded rather disappointed.

"Don't you think it's a problem that you're both girls?"

"Not at all. As long as we have each other, I couldn't care less about what others think is right or wrong. That maybe sounds a little selfish, but it isn't because Kagamin~'s the same."

"Hmm… Speaking of which, who already knows about the two of you?"

"Miyuki and Tsukasa do." There's also Kuroi-sensei, but that would only complicate things right now and so Konata left her out.

"Is that so… I should've pressured Tsukasa a little then…"

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Well, they more or less tried their best in helping us to get together…"

"So, how far have you two gone?"

"No comment."

"Tch." Miki hoped to be able to catch her off-guard after the rapid fire of question, but it didn't work.

"Oi!"

"Sorry…" Miki apologized and her smile finally changed into a genuine and warm one. "Okay, you pass, Konata."

"E-Eh?! That was all a test?!"

"Of course it was. I had to find out your true intentions. I can't just leave my daughter in anyone's hand, you know?"

"I-I see…"

"By the way, you scored 150 out of 100 possible points."

"…" It was getting hard for her to answer.

"Come on, Konata, you know that I love you like a daughter. There's no way I would all that only for the fun out of it or just for harassment's sake."

"O-Okay…" Konata had some serious doubts about that.

"I mean, I really was surprised when I came home earlier, but my suspicions were already growing lately. Not to mention that I always felt like there was something special in the relationship between you and Kagami. That's also why I teased you from time to time about it… Well, it wasn't all teasing, it also was my way that it's okay to me, if you're serious about it, that is, but I found out that you are today."

"Y-Yes… that's why I was so confused by your really scary smile earlier."

"Ara, so you noticed?"

"There's no way I couldn't! I wasn't even scared this much by Kagamin~ after I teased her too much. I think I felt actual bloodthirst from you there…"

"My, don't mind that. By the way, if you have noticed my intentions, why haven't you told me? Why did I have to find out by running into you two making out?"

"E-Eh…?!" Konata had just found out the true reason behind Miki's agitation. Sure, it was clear that she was concerned about her daughter, but being left out was the actual main problem.

"It's totally unfair, isn't it?" The mature and intimidating aura of Miki from earlier was now completely gone.

"Come on, it's perfectly reasonable, Miki. It's not like telling our parents about us is exactly easy, right?"

"I understand that, but me… me…?"

"You're absolutely no exception. I enjoy talking to you, feel comfortable around you and all, but you're still the mother of Kagami and that means…"

"Yes… I understand…" She looked really dejected.

"Haaaa…" Konata let out one of the deepest sighs she ever did. "I wonder what I should tell Kagamin~ tomorrow about all of this…"

"Have you two already talked about coming out to us?"

"Only briefly, I guess… We preferred to push it away, actually… I think we should seriously talk about it sooner or later now…"

"That's probably not a bad idea."

"Could you please not talk about it to anyone, Miki? Not to Kagami, not her father, nor anyone else? I and probably also Kagamin~ want to tell all of you on our own when we're ready."

"Of course. I'll patiently wait until the day arrives."

"Thank you. By the way, speaking of her father… Do I have to be alarmed or can I be at ease… to a normal degree at least? I mean…"

"W-Well…" Miki's voice wavered a little. "No, you two want to tell us on your own and so you also will have to deal with any eventualities."

"T-That's how it is, huh? Okay, I'll simply do my best on said day and if that's not enough, I'll just do more."

"That's some good spirit, Konata."

"Thanks, I guess…"

The two talked some more and after each finishing their fifth cup of tea, they left the café again. While waving their hands as a goodbye, the two parted and went their own ways. Konata was finally able to go home after a very exhausting interruption on her first try. She had initially planned to talk with her dad about the make up test and the reward, but Konata immediately went to her room, crashed face first on her bed and fell asleep.

…

The following day. Konata didn't feel like leaving the bed and decided to sleep in late. Kagami arrived at some point in her room and decided to end her laziness.

"Are you Tsukasa or what? Come on, get up already, Kona."

"I don't wanna~. Yesterday was way too exhausting…"

"Hmm? What happened yesterday?"

"You'll find out soon enough… The talk we two are going to have is also probably pretty exhausting. Just thinking about it makes me tired to the point of falling asleep right here and now…" She turned around and wanted to fall asleep again, but that was not possible.

"I… I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about, Kona, but I'm getting a very bad feeling about it!"

"For a very good reason, that is…"

"What in the world happened?!" Kagami got a little uneasy.

"By the way, did Miki say something to you since I left yesterday?"

"Huh? No, nothing I can think of… She was the same as usual at dinner and breakfast earlier."

"Oh, she's pretty good."

"Why are we talking about my mother in the first place right now? I'm sure there's something more urgent, right?"

"No, because your mother is the reason."

"Eh? What did she do this time?"

"Uh… Well… H-How do I say it…"

"Get it out already, Kona!" Kagami was getting impatient.

"Miki knows about us."

"Is that so? She sure is…" Kagami answered without thinking, but completely froze soon enough, while all color left her face. "W-WH-WHAT?!"

"She found out that we're a couple."

"EHHH?! N-No way… T-That can't be true!"

"It is… I spent over two hours in a café with her yesterday while talking about…"

"Y-You told her? Are you insane?!"

"She MADE me talk."

"Why didn't you deceive her?! I know you're not good under pressure, but come on!"

"I-It's not my fault, okay?" Konata desperately tried to calm her down.

"Who else, if not you?"

"Actually, it's yours."

"Oh, why should it be my fault, Kona?!"

"Who's the one who wanted a kiss in front of her house when I was about to leave?"

"Uhm…"

"Especially at the very moment her mother came back?"

"…" Kagami opened her mouth a couple times, but not a single word came out anymore.

"Was it me or was it you?"

"Uhh… I-I'm very sorry for losing my temper there, Kona…" She immediately started reflecting on her behavior after realizing that it ultimately was her fault.

"As long as you understand. Calmed down again?"

"More or less… So, my mom saw us, huh? Can I dye in embarrassment now? What happened after I went back inside the house?"

"She waited at the corner of the street and basically abducted me…"

"Somehow… I'm sorry…"

"You should be… I think I grew a few gray hairs, thanks to your mother…"

"I guess you did your best, huh?" Kagami sat down on the bed where Konata was and gently patted her head.

"Yeah…"

"Good work. What did she do?"

"She tested me…"

"Tested you?"

"I had to prove that I was serious about you?"

"Is that so? How did it go?"

"According to her, I scored 150 out of 100 possible points."

"I'm happy to hear that you did so well." Kagami rubbed her head a little more.

"Ehehe…"

"Huh? Wait a moment… I think I'm missing something here… Is she actually okay with us, Kona? She wasn't mad?"

"Oh no, she was pretty mad."

"Oh… t-that's… oh…" The color in her face once more vanished.

"Yeah, she really hated that I haven't told her earlier…"

"Hah?!" All tension left her body.

"How can I explain that now…"

"Just do it."

"She wanted us to get together for some time already."

"What?! My mom did?"

"Well, maybe not to that extent. What she did was hinting to me that she's okay with it on multiple occasions, though…"

"R-Really? Why haven't you ever told me?"

"Because she started doing it over half a year or so ago when you stayed those two weeks at my place. At first, I just took it as her teasing me because I hadn't realized my feelings there after I did… it was just terrible awkward and after we got together, it was still a bit… well… Let's say she said some pretty hefty things at times…"

"Well… I guess I get your point…"

"Yeah, your mother's quite… interesting…"

"Trust me, I do know that, Kona…"

"I guess so… I still quite like her, though."

"You're also pretty… interesting after all."

"Hehe."

"Soo… mom knows about it… and is okay with us dating?"

"That's how it is. Well, maybe she'll also question your seriousness on the matter, but yes."

"You better hope she won't, Kona… 150 out of 100 points? Ha, I'm not going to stop until I reach 200 points! Consider your score to be broken already."

"Uh… sure…" Konata wasn't sure whether she should feel impressed, happy, or something entirely else right now.

"What now, though… My mom really knows, but what about the rest?"

"I made Miki promise me that she won't tell anyone, so everything's up to us."

"You're pretty thoughtful."

"Thanks. I guess we should think about telling our families soon, though."

"Yeah, you're right… Even though I really don't want to…"

"Me neither, especially after…"

"A-After what?" Kagami instantly tensed up.

"Well, after our talk was finished, I tried getting some info about how your father would think about us out of her… She said we should find out on our own on the day, but something in her reaction felt a bit odd…"

"D-Do you think he's against…"

"I don't think that's it… I think she would've told me that… probably… It felt more like there's something else, but I'm not sure what it is…"

"I-I see… I really hope you're right, Kona."

"It'll be fine. Everyone will accept us once the two of us get serious."

"Yes, that's true!" Kagami's anxieties got blown away for the time being and the two started planning for the fated day.

"Seriously, though, what should we do…"

"Hmm…"

"We can't just summon them and simply say 'Hey guys, just that you know, we're lesbians and dating each other for quite some time already', right? Wait… no, we can't… can we? That would simplify it quite a bit."

"I think we need a little more delicacy at handling this…"

"Delicacy, huh? I'm not good at that…"

"I know, Kona, I know."

"Well, let's start easy. When should we tell them?"

"Good question… Looking at how my mom already knows, so we shouldn't wait too long. Also… I want to spend the holidays, meaning Christmas and new year, in peace with you and without thinking of an excuse to do so…"

"That sounds nice... Meaning we're telling them in the first half of December at last?"

"Somewhere along those lines."

"Okay… And we're back to the 'how'."

"Looks like it… You know what, let's go with your idea, Kona."

"Really? What happened to this so called 'delicacy'?"

"Screw that, this thing never works anyway…"

"Finally submitting to the dark side, huh?"

"I did that a long time ago, Kona."

"Eh? Why are you looking at me while saying that, Kagamin~?"

"Who knows~."

"Uh, welcome, I guess. Anyway… we're really going to do it like that?"

"Well, maybe a little less direct and some sugarcoating, but yes, I don't think a long explanation before getting to the point would make a difference in the end."

"I guess you have a point." Konata agreed with her and a rough plan was formed.

"Good, with that being 'solved', let's change the topic, Kona."

"Best idea I heard all day."

"Have you read the mail of Tsukasa and Miyuki from yesterday already?"

"Not really, I went straight to bed after coming home and haven't left it since after all."

"Looking at your extraordinary bed hair, I guess that's actually true."

"Sorry…"

"No, it's kind of cute on its own way and I maybe made it even a little worse after the patting earlier."

"Au… So, what does the mystery couple want?"

"The two invited us to a sleepover at Miyuki's place for today."

"Oho, I wasn't at her place since forever."

"Yeah, it's really been quite some time. That means we're going later?"

"Of course. Well, wake me up once it's time, okay?" Konata said so and got comfortable on her bed again.

"Oi! Get up already!"

"Or… Or how about you also lay down and have a little nap with me." Konata patted the place next to her while making this enticing offer.

"Hmm…" Kagami's determination was wavering.

…..

Three hours passed and after their 'little' nap was over, the two got ready and left Konata's house. They arrived at Miyuki's place and waited for the door to open.

"Man, I almost forgot how big her house is…"

"Yeah, but the neighborhood is even more impressive…" Konata and Kagami were in awe while waiting and then they saw the door opening. "Ah, there she is… huh?"

"Kona-chan and onee-chan, welcome, we've awaited your arrival already, please feel free to step inside." It was Tsukasa who opened the door.

"Did the Takaras hire you as a maid now, or what?" Konata instantly retorted at the unexpected welcoming. Her casual clothes ruined the image a bit, but the welcome was first class.

"Ehehe, not really, I just felt like doing it right now. Yuki-chan's not even at hom- ehm, here, right now."

"Huh? Are we too early, sis?"

"You're a little late actually, onee-chan…"

"Ahaha, that's probably my fault." The nap that Konata proposed earlier was a bit longer than expected. "So, where's Miyuki?"

"She's at Minami-chan's place. She had a small problem with her studies and Yuki-chan shortly went over to help her. She'll be back soon."

"Who's Minami?" Konata and Kagami had a slightly puzzled look on their face.

"Oh… right, she's Yuki-chan's childhood friend, who lives across the street."

"C-Childhood friend?! That's dangerous, Tsukasa!" Konata suddenly started panicking.

"Ehh? Minami-chan's not dangerous at all. Okay, she looks a little scary at first, but she's actually just shy and pretty gentle. Oh, and her dog's super cute!"

"That's not what I meant… Well, whatever, the childhood friend heroine basically never wins anyway and that's not even a bad thing her for a change." Konata had entered her own world.

"O-Onee-chan?"

"Let her be, sis… The last 24 hours were pretty hard for her and she probably needs to let off some steam."

"O-kay?" Tsukasa didn't understand a single thing. "What happened?"

"Long story, I'll tell you later and Kona, the route is already locked and we already have a winner anyway, haven't we?"

"You and I know that, but if those in question don't know that, we can't be sure yet, Kagamin~."

"Haa… Sis, who does Miyuki meets more often lately, you or Minami?"

"Hmm? Well… We occasionally visit Minami-chan together or Yuki-chan sometimes helps her with her studies, but I almost meet up with her every day… Why?"

"See? The main heroine's obviously decided already and that's the one who always wins, Kona."

"I'm impressed, you clearly win this one, Kagamin~."

"Have you also had a hard day, onee-chan? I don't understand what's going on at all."

"Yes, I kind of had, but please, don't mind us."

Tsukasa still had question marks floating all over her head, but the three finally headed inside.

"Oho, I think I never was in Miyuki's room before… We almost stayed in the living room the last times. I wonder what kind of luxury will await us~." Konata seemed to be in a pretty good mood.

"It's not that luxurious, Kona-chan, and with all the books she has there, it's also rather small. Because of that, we aren't going to stay there today."

"Aww, too bad, what are we going to do then?"

"Yuki-chan and I prepared an extra room with a couple futons for today."

"Having an extra room just for sleepovers is so…" Kagami had a slightly scary look on her face.

They arrived at the mentioned room and Miyuki also returned shortly after.

"I'm back."

"Welcome back."

"I'm sorry for making you wait here, Tsukasa-san and good to see you two, Kagami-san and Izumi-san."

"No problem~."

"Hello there, Miyuki." The two also greeted her.

"What were you three talking about?"

"Onee-chan and Kona-chan were behaving a little weirder than usual and said that they had a hard day… I was about to find out the reason."

"Oh my, looks like I arrived at a good time. What happened, you two?" Miyuki didn't even try to hide anything.

"Well… something rather bad happened yesterday… My mom caught Kona and me and now she knows about us…"

"T-That's indeed bad, how did that happen?"

"I…" Kagami had already accepted that it was her fault. "I was a bit careless and because of that, mom saw us… well, she saw us kissing in front of our house."

"My…" Miyuki's cheeks reddened a little.

"S-So you two actually did something kissing already…" Tsukasa also looked embarrassed. While she knew that her sister said she almost kissed Konata before they started dating, she never actually saw them doing it afterward.

"E-Ehm… well… that's awkward…" Kagami had no follow-up and was just happy that her mother just caught them while kissing.

"S-So innocent." Konata got embarrassed by their embarrassment and had the same thought as Kagami.

"W-What happened then?"

"Miki, without Kagamin~ knowing, kind of abducted me and made me confess everything. That was super exhausting and even a little scary…"

"What happens to the two of you now?"

"I obviously made Miki accepts us, but because of all that, we're planning on coming out to the rest of our families soon, or at least parents, that is."

"Wow, that's a really huge step."

"Yes, we also hoped we could postpone it a little more, but one of them already found out and more will probably follow soon because, let's be honest, we're not good at hiding it."

"That is indeed very true."

"Absolutely." Miyuki and Tsukasa's honesty can be pretty brutal at times.

"T-Thanks…"

"B-By the way…" Tsukasa's mood changed into a flustered one.

"What is it, sis?"

"How…" Her face started to turn red.

"How?"

"H-How does it feel to… k-kiss someone… someone you l-like?" Tsukasa managed to say it and the room fell silent while three pairs of eyes were firmly locked on her. All of them were sitting on their futons in the middle of the room. Kagami and Konata next to each other on one side of the quartet and Tsukasa and Miyuki on the other side. They looked at no particular direction while chatting, but that had instantly changed after Tsukasa had finished asking her question.

A whole minute of silent staring passed and then Konata and Kagami turned to look at each other with a slightly complicated expression. Miyuki never changed her point of view, though.

"Ehm…"

"Well…" The couple received a rather tough-to-answer question.

"Hmm… Do you want to know how the first kiss felt or how it feels now?" Kagami was slightly embarrassed while answering, but after she helped her so much with Konata, she thought it was the least she could do for her little sister.

"I-Is there a difference?"

"An indescribable huge one." Konata joined the conversation because she had the same reason as Kagami.

"T-Then the first one…"

"The first one, huh? Hmm… Incredibly awkward and super embarrassing sounds fitting, doesn't it, Kona?"

"You forgot sloppy and short…"

"Right…"

"… Does that mean it wasn't good?"

"Huh? No way, it was the most amazing thing ever." The ability of the couple to be in perfect synch was as outstanding as ever.

"Ehh? But how you described it just now…"

"Well, because that's just the easy describable part… The moment our lips touch… My whole brain went blank and it felt like… uh…"

"… Being hit by lightning, is what Kagamin~'s probably wants to say. Electric shocks that spread from my lips all the way to my toes… or something like that… Pleasant, overwhelming, and scary at the same time, but most importantly, absolutely addicting." Konata's description was rather rough and awkward, but she felt like was able to get her point across.

"W-Wow… that's…" Tsukasa had nothing to answer.

"And in reality, it was even more impressive, sis."

"W-What's different to today then?"

"Well, the overwhelming and scary part is gone, but it's still as amazing as ever. No, even better because the awkwardness is also gone."

"Yep, it's as natural as breathing already~. And as important…"

"Amazing…" Tsukasa unintentionally leaked out an admiring sound.

"Is there something else you want to know, sis?"

"Besides kissing, i-is there…"

"Wait a moment!" Kagami felt incredible danger from the arriving question of her sister and stopped her. She then looked at Konata, who shook her head. The two agreed without words that it was enough from their side and decided to return the favor. "Sorry, but let me ask something first. Why do you want to know all that?" Kagami more or less knew why, but she wanted to know if Tsukasa herself is also aware of it to some degree. It could be a bit difficult with Miyuki present, though.

"I… uhh…" She didn't know how she should answer to her sister's question. "That's… looking at you, onee-chan and Kona-chan, who're looking so happy all the time… It makes me curious and feels like I'm missing out on something…"

"Well…" Konata took over. "Is there even someone you like? Without that, it's rather pointless anyway, isn't it?"

"That…"

"Oh, is there?" Konata was getting more aggressive.

"…" Tsukasa seemed lost in thoughts. "I-Isn't being curious about k-kissing reason enough?"

"If you're confident about your reason, then why is it a question?"

"W-Well…"

"I mean, if you're curious, that must mean you're imagining doing it with someone, right?" Konata increased the pressure but stopped soon afterward.

"Kona…" Kagami slightly glared at her. She understood what Konata was doing and felt the same, but it was getting too much.

"I'm sorry, Tsukasa, I said too much. You're right, being curious about it is perfectly fine. I just got a little too excited."

"I-It's fine, Kona-chan, I don't really mind…" Even though she said that, the mood still got a little awkward and silence overwhelmed the room once more. A couple minutes passed before the topic changed to something else.

"W-Well, I guess I should start preparing dinner now." Miyuki, who hadn't said a single word since the discussion started, looked at the clock and managed to disperse the heavy mood.

"L-Let me…"

"Ah, let me help you, Miyuki." Tsukasa wanted to say the same, but Konata was faster. Before Miyuki could even react, she was already dragged out of the room. "Later, Kagamin~." And with that, the two disappeared towards the kitchen.

"Sure…" Kagami and Tsukasa got left behind and were alone now. "That Kona, huh?"

"Y-Yeah…"

"Although, it's not like I can't understand her."

"You, too, onee-chan?!"

"You were pretty obvious after all."

"D-Don't tell me that runs in the family?!"

"Thanks for the insult, but you just confirmed that I was right."

"Ah!" Tsukasa realized her mistake.

"So?"

"It's true that I was curious…"

"You weren't thinking about, I don't know, perhaps Miyuki not even once?"

"!?" Kagami got quite a reaction from her sister.

"You know, Kona and I are quite confused by the two of you."

"E-Eh?"

"Sometimes, you and Miyuki are acting almost like Kona and me, but then there are times where you two look just like normal friends…"

"Ah… that…" Tsukasa let out a sigh. "You're… not the only confused ones…"

"Is that so?"

"I like Yuki-chan, I like her very much… I just don't know in which way. As a friend? Romantically like you and Kona-chan? I don't understand the difference…"

"There is no difference."

"W-What?!"

"Well, okay, there are obviously a few differences, but what I mean is that romantic feelings often are just stronger in its intensity."

"Does that mean that I can't even find out what exactly I feel because there's no clear border?"

"Well, it took me weeks, if not months, after I fell in love with Kona before I realized it."

"That doesn't help me at all, does it?"

"It's for sure that you'll notice it once it passes a certain point, but right now…"

"Right now?"

"If you care about how I see things…"

"I always did and also always will."

"I don't think you're at the point where I realized my feelings for Kona."

"Okay." Tsukasa couldn't say more.

"But you're also not at the where I was at the beginning of the year."

"W-What does that mean?"

"More than friends, but less than lovers, I guess? I don't think you two qualify as normal friends, but it also hasn't reached the point of love right now. It isn't a given that it ever will, but that's how I, and Kona, see you two right now."

"…"

"There's absolutely no problem with that, though. Being friends, no matter to which degree, is perfectly fine. Take it easy and force yourself to nothing until you're sure about your true feelings and even then, do it in moderation. Maybe try a few things in order to find out where you stand and where you could go if you want, but like I said, be sure not to overdo it."

"Hmm… Y-Yes, I guess you're right, onee-chan. Thank you, I'll think of something while taking it easy."

"Good."

…

The conversation of the twins ended and another one was happening at the same time between Konata and Miyuki in the kitchen.

"Thank you for helping me, Izumi-san. I'm not that good at cooking after all."

"You have Tsukasa usually helping you, you can't be bad."

"Tsukasa-san and I usually only make sweets together because she really likes making them and I'm fine with everything as long as she's happy. So, please bear with me in the kitchen."

"W-Well, still, you can't be worse than Kagamin~. More importantly, making sweets is harder than cooking anyway."

"Is Kagami-san really that bad in the kitchen?"

"Not anymore, she's still a bit clumsy here and there, but it's perfectly fine already. At the beginning, though, it really was pure hell."

"I see. Well, I look forward to learning a thing or two from you."

"To hear these words from Miyuki… Leave it to me."

The two started preparing the food in silence while Konata showed her a couple cutting techniques and some general tips and tricks before Miyuki broke the silence again.

"E-Ehm… Izumi-san…" She sounded rather hesitant.

"You know, I've been meaning to say that for some time already, basically since the day we became friends, but 'Konata' is totally fine by me."

"Huh? That's…"

"Rather, it would make me really happy if you could call me by my given name." Konata made it impossible to refuse her request.

"O-Okay… then… Konata-san?"

"Way better, thank you. So, what do you want?"

"R-Right… Well, you see… Does k-kissing really feels as intense as you two said, Izu- Konata-san?" Her face went completely red as she bashfully asked her.

"…" The only thing that could be heard, was the shattering sound of Konata's 'moe-meter' breaking. She instinctively touched her nose, but luckily the blood stayed where it has to be, inside.

"S-Should I not have asked?"

"No, uh, wow… Ehm, it's okay, it was just totally outside of what I was expecting… Yes, or rather, no, it feels even more intense. Especially the first ones like we said, but even now, unsteady legs aren't that rare."

"Wow."

"Want to try it~?"

"Huh?! W-What?! No… not with you, Konata-san…"

"I got instantly shot down, huh? Well, that's good, though. I would've never done it anyway. Kagamin~'s the only one for me after all."

"That's reassuring to hear, I was a little worried for a second."

"There's absolutely no need for that. Anyway, 'not with me', huh?" Konata hadn't forgotten about it.

"It's… Uh, it's just because you already have Kagami-san and that wouldn't be okay."

"That does make sense, but is that really what you meant, Miyuki?"

"Of course, w-what else could I possibly mean?"

"I wonder~. Anyway, yes, kissing is something you can look forward to doing when you get into a relationship."

"You're rather good at making people jealous, Konata-san."

"Hehe, it wasn't my intention, but yeah, it absolutely is something to get jealous for. I won't go into details because it's private and even I am a little shy about some things, but it's the best thing ever."

"Even Konata-san's shy about some things, huh?"

"Believe it or not, but I even have a hard time to fully open up to others, except a few chosen ones. So, sorry for holding a few things regarding my relationship with Kagamin~ back."

"Nonono, please don't apologize! You're already way more open about this than I could ever be… to anyone. If anything, I'm thankful to you. Also, thanks that you didn't probe too much into my slip ups."

"Nah, don't mind it. After all, I already know the reason. Worry not, if you're still not sure how you feel about the little sister of my girlfriend, I won't unnecessary push you _too much_ and neither will Kagamin~. Even though it's incredibly enticing…" Konata threw something incredible right into Miyuki's face, which became as pale as a sheet of paper.

"W-Wh-What?!" Immediate panicking was the result.

"Shh…" Konata placed a finger on Miyuki's lips and silenced her. "Just take it easy… or not. Just do whatever you see fit. There's no wrong outcome, only different ones. Friends or lovers, both are perfectly fine."

While the two were wrapping up their discussion, they finished preparing dinner and the scent lured Kagami and Tsukasa in the kitchen. Konata left the finishing touches to Tsukasa and regrouped with Kagami. The two looked at each other and simultaneously sighed.

"Well, that was…"

"… Interesting on your side as well, huh, Kagamin~?"

"Yeah, it looks like it won't take long until Tsukasa's going to try something."

"The same goes for Miyuki."

"I wonder what they'll find out."

"And what the results are." Without even knowing, the couple basically had the same discussion with the same results with the other two girls.

….

The four finished eating and went back to their room. All of them chatting until late, they stayed with safe topics, though. They got ready for bed, lay down on their futons and the day ended. Except, it didn't.

It took Konata and Kagami exactly 8 minutes and 26 seconds after falling asleep to, unconsciously of course, leave their futons and continued their sleep while hugging each other between both of their futons. It was once more proven that it's completely impossible for them to sleep in the same room without embracing each other.

Miyuki and Tsukasa, who couldn't sleep at all for some reason, where absentmindedly staring at the ceiling until now, shifted their gazes to the couple and watched them for some time.

"Kona-chan and onee-chan are pretty cute…"

"… Yes… And even though their position between the futons look pretty uncomfortable, they look perfectly at ease. There was only some faint light of the moon outside illuminating the room, but the two could perfectly see the satisfied expression of the couple.

"Honestly, they make me so jealous…"

"Indeed…" Without minding what the other one said, Miyuki and Tsukasa faced the ceiling again, which both watched for some time.

Half an hour in silence passed before Tsukasa said something again.

"Yuki-chan, are you still awake?"

"Yes, I'm unable to sleep for some reason."

"I see."

"You as well?"

"Yeah… Do you think Kona-chan and onee-chan told the truth?"

"About?" Miyuki knew, but still asked.

"The kissing thing… Can it really be that exciting?"

"I never tried it and so I obviously have no idea, Tsukasa-san, but I don't think they would lie to us, right?"

"That's true…"

"But yes, I also have a hard time imagining it…"

The room fell silent again and another 50 minutes of the two absentmindedly watching the ceiling passed because sleeping really didn't work.

"Yuki-chan?"

"Yes?"

"Can I…" Tsukasa hesitated before continuing. "Can I kiss you?"

"…" There was no answer.

"J-Just on the cheek, I mean." She started panicking a little due to the silence and changed it a little, or rather, that's all she could probably handle anyway.

"A-Are you sure, Tsukasa-san?"

"Yes… I'm really curious and you're the only one I can ask… No, you're the only one I _want_ to ask because I really like you, Yuki-chan, and you're the only one I can imagine doing it…"

"…" Miyuki became silent again. "… D-Don't you think it could make things awkward between us?"

"I don't think awkwardness is something our friendship can't handle to get rid of again."

"I'm happy to hear those words. On the cheek, was it?"

"Y-Yes, I don't think more would be appropriate in this situation after all."

"Hmm…" Miyuki almost wanted to say that the current request is already plenty questionable, but that thought never left her brain and her reply was the exact opposite. "Okay…"

"R-Really?!"

"Yes." Miyuki got up, kneeled down on her futon and faced her left cheek in Tsukasa's direction.

"O-Okay." She also got up, went nearer to Miyuki and sat down next to her. Tsukasa looked at her cheek, but then started hesitating. Miyuki realized that and so she put her hand on Tsukasa's leg in order to signalize that it really is okay to do it. Tsukasa took a deep breath, calmed down and then her lips made contact with Miyuki's cheek. It was just a little peck and it was over after just a second again. A couple moments passed before Miyuki was able to look at Tsukasa's deep red face. Little did she know that her face was equally red.

"C-Can I… also…?"

"… Yes…" Tsukasa's answer was almost completely inaudible, but her small nod and the slight turning of her head was signal enough.

"T-Then…" Imitating Tsukasa, she also reduced the distance, closed her eyes and gave her a short kiss on the cheek. Miyuki's lips immediately parted from said cheek again and the girls looked at different directions afterward. A minute passed before there were finally able to look at each other again.

"I-I guess Kona-chan and onee-chan really told the t-truth…"

"Y-Yes… it wasn't on the same level, but that's… probably… because…" She couldn't finish her sentence. It was just a kiss on the cheek, but it was already plenty powerful and so, just thinking about an actual kiss, was enough to almost break Miyuki.

"Yeah… Thanks for always playing along with my unreasonable requests, Yuki-chan."

"It's fine, you never did anything that bothered me in the slightest, but I think we should really try to sleep now, don't you agree?" Miyuki was getting more and more embarrassed and feared she would lose her composure any second now.

"Y-Yes, that's a very good idea." Tsukasa also was on the brink of it.

The two lay down on their futons again and silence engulfed the room a last time. Neither of them were able to sleep, though. Both were looking at their beloved ceiling again and were alternatingly touching their cheeks and lips for some time. For the rest of the night, Miyuki and Tsukasa tried to calm down their furiously beating hearts, but it was no use and the night really ended with them not catching even a single minute of sleep. Konata and Kagami were, unfortunately, so comfortable in each other's embrace that neither of them had noticed a single thing about what happened that night.

* * *

.

Well, I wasn't expecting to have it ready so fast… That's what happens when I say it'll take 2-3 weeks.

The original conversation between Miki and Konata was more than triple the length of what it's now, but it clashed with something I have planned for later and so I had to rewrite the whole thing. I think Miki still had enough fun with poor little Konata.

On another note, Miyuki and Tsukasa are so cute that I had to lick some salt in order to get my blood sugar down to a reasonable degree again. (I don't think that's how it works, but I guess you get my point.)

Next chapter will take place in December and later, that means Konata and Kagami's plan will put into action. Because of that, it'll probably take some time because, at least in my head, that's going to be something complex and I don't want to rush it.

Today's ramble is a little short and so I'll say some thanks to the readers of story posted here. First off, it just went over 13,000 views an about hour ago and I would like to thank everyone who at least took a bit of a liking to my story. Sure, comparing that to the active communities here, it's nothing, but for a Lucky Star story in 2016/2017, it's rather decent. (I hope at least.) I also want to thank every single one who left a comment and special thanks to 'Gigarot' and 'Dawn101seeker', who left a comment to every single chapter lately. The same goes for 'kaylakaze', who also left a lot of comments here. All of you, not just the mentioned one and also new ones, feel free to leave more of them. They're one of the reason I look forward to post new chapters, apart from the main point that I simply want to continue my story. And now that I introduced Minami, the cast will grow at some point and that means a lot of chapter are left to come. (Not that I was going to finish anytime soon even without them.)


	28. Family

"Brr… It sure has gotten colder lately."

"Well, it's already December after all…" Konata had just arrived at Kagami's home and was happy that she should cold enter somewhere where it's warm again. It was the first week of December and already way too cold for Konata's liking.

"I can't wait for spring…"

"Winter hasn't even really started, though, Kona…"

"Don't remind me of that…"

"… Hey, do we really have to do it?" Kagami's mood changed all of a sudden.

"I can't say I'm looking forward to it, either…"

"Haa… Well, I'm the one who started wailing first, but my dad… and mom are already waiting in the living room anyway…"

"We could still run, Kagamin~."

"Now you want to elope or what?"

"N-No, I wouldn't go… that far, I guess…?"

"A-Anyway…"

"Yes, let's just get over with it." Saying so, the two took a deep breath and entered the living room where Kagami's parents, Miki and Tadao, were already waiting. Tadao looked relieved for a second because he was expecting a boy after the invitation of her daughter, but it really lasted for only a second. It wasn't a boy, but the situation felt exactly the same and so he decided to not let his guard down.

"Hey, d-dad… and mom…" Kagami was already more than just a little nervous.

"Hello Kagami and welcome, Konata." Tadao answered and Miki on the other hand just remained silent.

"H-Hello…" Konata was only thinking about running again.

"Thanks for waiting, dad, I… no, we…" She grabbed Konata's hand in order to boost her confidence and continued. "We have something to tell you."

"Go on." He obviously saw it, but let her continue.

"Okay… Mom already knows… but Kona and I finally decide to make it official… W-We two are… are a couple and dating each other for… well, already five months now…"

"…" Tadao remained silent and it seemed like he was thinking about something.

"D-Dad?" Thanks to the silence, Kagami became incredibly uneasy and tightly clenched Konata's hand.

"Well, I'm rather surprised. I had the feeling that something had changed, but it's that, huh? It certainly explains a couple of things, though." Tadao's poker face skill was rather good, but there was no need for an interpretation because; "But…"

"Oh no…" A single word was enough for Kagami to turn pale. A couple moments passed before he continued.

"… I don't think I can approve it…"

"N-No… no way… that can't be happening… W-Why…? Why is that so?!" Kagami started to despair and her voice got low, but then her feelings started to change into anger, causing her to almost shout at the end of her sentence.

"Let me make one thing clear first." Tadao's voice remained as calm as before when he continued. "For me, it has nothing to do with you two being girls. What I'm questioning is, is the seriousness of you, Kagami. I know that you're a serious person, but you're also young and being in love can make you less objective. You know that I'm a rather traditional person, no, I don't mean it in _who_ your partner is, but rather, that you find someone to stay with. I mean, your mother is the only person I wanted to be with and I'm still with her until this very day."

"That… That's just stupid!" Her anger was clearly rising. "My relationship with Kona is the first thing in my life, that I can say with absolute confidence, that I'm 100% serious in! My feelings for her are nothing whimsical and I love her with all my heart. We wouldn't even be doing something so grand as telling our parents about if we, or I, would take any of this lightly!"

"Still, this won't change my opinion right now. What I want from you now, Kagami, is that you think hard and as long as you need to in order to find out what your long-term goals are and when, or if you know it, we can talk again." He completely ignored her.

"That's completely unnecessary! I already know perfectly well how I want my future to be and Kona is an integral part of it!" Kagami was losing her little remaining composure.

"This conversation is over, Kagami."

"W-What is wrong with you?!" She finally snapped and stood up. "Why aren't you listening to me?! There is no need for me to think about it! It's not going to change anything! … Here I thought all my life that you were reasonable… That's what I should think about and not about Kona!" Kagami's yelling echoed through the whole house before she turned around and angrily left the living room. The last thing the others heard from her was the loud bang of her slamming the door shut behind her. Konata looked at said door and was rendered completely speechless for a moment. Tadao hung his head in response and Miki still said nothing.

"W-Well… uh…" Konata felt extremely awkward. "I-I guess I'll also go… Now that the most, or rather, only reasonable person has left the room…" She said the second part in a slightly lower voice, but made sure that Tadao could hear her, slightly passive aggressive, opinion of him. "Bye, Miki." She was also the only one who received a goodbye. Konata wasn't happy that she remained silent and also rather angry because she didn't understand why, but it was still way better than what he did. She arrived in the hallway and was about to leave, but Miki had followed her and guided her into the kitchen.

"Let's have a little chat, Konata."

"Sure… What was that about?! Why didn't you help us?! Or at least warned us beforehand?!" Konata wasted no time at all. It wasn't to the extent of Tadao but she still was quite angry about her.

"Well… You see…" Miki started her explanation and 15 minutes quickly passed.

"Wow… that's pretty low…" Konata's final thought of the discussion was something like that.

"I'm very sorry…"

The two left the kitchen and Konata decided to leave for real now. She searched for her shoes at the entrance and after finding them on the floor, she suddenly started smiling.

"Well, it's fine, we're going to win anyway."

"You're pretty confident, huh?"

"Yep, I was 100% sure earlier, but now it's easily 200%."

"Hmm?"

"See you later, Miki." Konata became rather cheerful again and quickly left.

…

30 minutes after Konata left Kagami's house, she arrived home again.

"I'm back…" Konata announced her returning and quickly ran into her father.

"Hey, Konata… What happened to Kagami? She arrived here 15 minutes ago, looked extremely irritated and went directly to your room without even greeting me… Did I do something wrong again? Just when I thought we got a little closer…"

"Not commenting on the last part… No, it has nothing to do with you, dad. It's just that… stuff happened. Anyway, do you have some time for us later? We have something to talk about…"

"I still have some work left, but is it important?"

"I would say so, yes."

"Sure, then I have time."

"Thanks, dad. I'll go and talk with Kagamin~ first and then we'll come to the living room."

"Okay."

Konata went to her room and immediately found Kagami there. She was lying on her bed with her face buried in the pillow. It looked she also cried a bit because Konata could still could occasionally hear a sniffle. She sat down next to Kagami and silently comforted her by gently petting her head for almost ten minutes.

"W-What should we do now?" Kagami lifted her head, but she was still far from being calm.

"Well…"

"He wasn't listening to me at all!"

"I know."

"I'm absolutely serious and there's no reason to waste time thinking about it!"

"Yes."

"Again, what do we do now, Kona?"

"I probably know your answer already, but can we tell my father first before we do something about yours?"

"I really think we should solve one problem first before making it more complex…"

"That's true, but I think when my father finds out that we waited with telling him, that could create a problem it itself…"

"Hah… Why are parents so complicated?"

"Fair point, Kagamin~, fair point…"

"Okay… let's do it…" She agreed to it in the end.

Konata grabbed Kagami's hand and the two went to the living room where Sojiro was still waiting. They sat down on the sofa, but stayed silent.

"Here we are… Soo, what's the matter?" Sojiro was the one who broke the silence.

"Well…" Konata wanted to start explaining, but she quickly noticed that it was harder than she thought and began hesitating.

"What's wrong? It's not like you to suddenly start fidgeting." Her father didn't know what the problem was.

"Argh, I'll just do it!" Konata found her motivation after looking at Kagami. "Dad, Kagamin~ and I are here to tell you something. We… We two are a couple and we hope that you're okay with me being together with Kagami."

"…" Sojiro didn't answer and just looked a little dumbfounded.

"Oh no…" Kagami felt like having a déjà vu and Konata wasn't sure what to say.

"No, well, what should I answer except that I know that much already…" Sojiro finally said something, but it wasn't something the girls were expecting.

"Ehhh?!" They didn't even try to hide their surprise.

"Wait… you two were hiding it?" A very familiar phrase came up. "I mean, I knew that Kagami's somehow interested in it and also okay with that kind of thing and the time where she even lived a couple weeks here when I was gone, was also quite a big of a hint. Not to mention that you two are always together and various other things…"

"Ehm… just so you know, Sojiro, we weren't together yet when I stayed over back then." There were many things to retort to, but Kagami decided to address the least important thing of them all.

"Sure you weren't." Sojiro didn't believe her.

"It's true!"

"Of course it is~."

"Really! Okay, I may admit that my feelings were already changing without me knowing back then, but that's all there was…"

"'All', she says…" The little bantering of Sojiro and Kagami continued and the original topic was about to get lost when Konata stopped them.

"Wait, wait WAIT! What was that about you knowing Kagamin~ being interested or okay with it, again?" She remembered hearing something that really bothered her.

"Y-You really never read any of my recent light novels, have you?" He looked quite dejected by it.

"Eh, what has that to do with… wait…" Konata didn't understand at first, but then looked at Kagami, who just shyly looked away in response. "Kagamin~?"

"W-Well…" She was behaving really suspicious.

"You remember the light novel Kagami forgot here back then?"

"More or less, yes."

"It was the first volume of my recent ongoing series. It's a story of two childhood friends…"

"Okay…" Konata tilted her head a little.

"To be precise, two female childhood friends. The main story is the changing feelings of the two for each other and how they handle it. By now, there are also a lot of side stories about their friends in it, but the selling point is still the ever-changing relationship of the childhood pair."

"I-I see…" Konata had no idea what to answer and just looked at Kagami again, but the girl in question still couldn't match eyes with her. Konata had a feeling that the light novel of her father was something that carried interest, but she never thought it would've been actually yuri. "Haa… If I only would've known… That totally would've made things easier for me…" She could've been spared from most of the suffering after realizing her feelings.

"That's so totally your own fault!" Kagami suddenly made a full recovery and directly snapped a little.

"I can't say anything against that… Wait a moment… You helped him with his recent light novels, haven't you, Kagamin~? Don't tell me it's basically a story about us?"

"Nonono, I admit that the premise sounds a bit similar, but that's all his own doing, I just gave him some general tips and things like what work and what doesn't." Kagami quickly denied Konata's thought.

"That's good, but leaving the novel aside for now, we should get back to the topic again…"

"Yeah, I think so, too, Kona."

"Sooo… Dad, are you okay with us?"

"Well, I can tell with a single glance that both of you are completely serious and so, as a father, there's no way I could oppose you two, completely leaving aside my books, but at the same time, it's also a bit complicated for me…"

"Exactly! Thank you very mu-… Eh? C-Complicated?" At first, Kagami was happy that Sojiro confirmed that her own father was the one at fault, but then she realized the other part of his sentence.

"I'm obviously okay with it and I vowed that I'll support my daughter with everything she decided on in her life a long time ago, but, as a parent… never going to see the family growing… in form of grandchildren is a little… sad… you know?"

"…" Konata's mouth hung open and she was unable to say a single syllable. She had never thought about that part and she even less expected to hear it from her father. Thinking about it now also would just end up in feeling happy as long as she's together with Kagami, but it's not like she can't understand her father's point of view.

"Uhh… ehm…" Kagami was also surprised and at a loss for words for a moment. "W-Well… Although it's not exactly the same… there are still other ways, including adoption and who knows, science is moving at an incredible pace… Wait! W-What am I even talking about?! I-In the first place, it's way too early for us to even think about things like that!"

"…" Konata's inability to talk got even worse. Hearing that from Kagami made her a little emotionally unstable, but she wasn't alone with that.

"I see… I see… I hadn't thought about that… You're right… that's true. You two being girls just makes it harder, but not entirely impossible, huh? Haaah~, welcome to the family, Kagami." Sojiro looked extremely relieved and let out a happy sounding sigh after the sudden revelation.

"O-Okay… Thank you…" Kagami unexpectedly got way more than she hoped for today and was taken aback a little, but definitely in a good way. "Isn't that great, Kona? At least your father is reasonable… Kona?"

"Huh? Uh… y-yes. That… That's indeed… very true…" She had a very hard time with keeping up.

"Speaking of which… You already briefly mentioned it earlier, but what happened with your father, Kagami?" Sojiro got interested in the story.

"Haa…" Her mood worsened just by recalling it. "We had the same talk with my parents earlier, but my dad, well… had a different opinion of us than you…"

"Really? What did he say?"

"He doubted my seriousness and ordered me to think long and hard about if this relationship has a future or not. Well, it's not because Kona's also a girl, but apparently more of a general thing…"

"Wow… I know it's probably a weird thing to say as a parent, but how could you two be any more serious?"

"I know, right?!" Kagami almost shouted it.

"What happened then?"

"He didn't listen to me no matter how hard I tried and so, instead of thinking about something that doesn't need to be thought about, I kind of ran away from home and arrive here about an hour ago…"

"Hmm?" Sojiro looked like he was thinking about something, but let it go again. "What are you going to do now?"

"That's a good question… Maybe I should just start living here…"

"Ahaha, that wouldn't change much anyway, wouldn't it?"

"Ha, that's true." Sojiro and Kagami were joking about it, but, actually, Kagami didn't look like she was joking at all.

"Not that I have anything against it… more like, I would greatly welcome it, but…" Konata liked the idea, but she wasn't sure if that's the right thing to do.

"Do you have a better idea, Kona? After what happened…"

"W-Well, you see… the thing is… Oh!" Konata was about to explain something when the sound of the doorbell ringing interrupted her. "They're earlier than expected… I mean, I'll go!" Saying so, Konata left the living room and went to open the door.

"Who's that?"

"No idea…" Kagami and Sojiro exchange a couple confused glances.

…..

It happened 15 minutes after Konata left the Hiiragi home. Miki was hoping that Kagami had calmed down a little. She went upstairs and knocked at her door because, just like with Konata before, she also wanted to talk with her. After getting no response, she stepped inside the room and saw something unexpected. The thing she saw, was nothing. Kagami had apparently never entered her room after leaving the living room earlier.

"Interesting…" Miki wasn't as surprised as one would think, though. Rather, she looked more amazed and even a bit proud. She went downstairs again and just in that moment, the front door opened.

"Oh, hello, mom."

"Hey~, mom." Matsuri and Inori, the two older sisters of the twins had just arrived at home after coming back from college for the weekend.

"What a timing… I mean, welcome home, girls…"

"Timing?" Inori, the oldest one of the sisters looked a bit confused. She had just put away her hooded jacket, which then revealed her short, dark purple hair when she asked. Matsuri did the same the same with hers, making her also short, but light brown her visible and asked something else.

"More importantly…" She pointed at the living room. "Is dad in there? I feel a really heavy mood coming out there…"

"Ahaha…" Miki could only laugh dryly.

"What happened?"

"You see… about an hour ago, Kagami brought home someone she wanted to introduce to us, or rather, your father and, well, this is the aftermath…"

"Heh~. That's surprising, or rather… Why did I miss the first train home?!" Inori was a little surprised, but her real desire leaked out rather fast.

"W-What?! I-Introduce as in the person she's going out with?" Matsuri's surprise was way more genuine. "Kagami's in a relationship?! I had no idea! Since when? No way… W-Why do I feel like I have lost…?" But then, her real problem also leaked out.

"A-Anyway…" Inori tried her best to ignore what her sister said at the end. "How long until…"

"She didn't even go back to her room after the discussion was over." Miki didn't need to hear the full question before answering.

"Wow~." Inori looked impressed for some reason. "Kagami's pretty serious with that person, huh?"

"Yep~, and the other person's as well. They're a really good couple."

"To be acknowledged by mom… impressive…"

"Wait, wait, WAIT! What is going on?" Matsuri didn't understand what the two were talking about.

"You'll understand once you bring someone home…"

"Ehh?!" She wasn't satisfied at all with that answer.

"So, who's that _boy_ friend?" Inori directly came back to the important topic.

"Well… you see, that's… uh…" Miki had no idea how she should answer to that and became rather evasive.

"In the first place, from what I heard, doesn't she spend all her time with that blue-haired shorty? Konata was her name, wasn't it?"

"…" Miki just averted her gaze. Inori's probably the only one who can hold a candle to her.

"Now that I think about it… Didn't I see Konata at the station earlier?"

"It's a bit complicated… You should ask her yourself when she comes home again." She took the easy way out.

"Heh~." Inori raised an eyebrow. "I should come home more often… Well, I'm tired and so I'll go to my room for now. Please immediately inform me when she's back, okay? Ah, but don't wait too long with the visit. Knowing Kagami, she might actually start to get _really_ angry…" She said so and then went upstairs to her room.

"Sure~."

"Could someone please tell me what's going on here?!" Matsuri got a rather angry because she couldn't understand the situation and felt left out thanks to it.

…..

After Konata had opened the door of her house for the visitors, she and the two other people came back to the living room. Seeing them, Kagami directly went pale.

"W-What are you two doing here?!" She pointed at the guest, Miki and Tadao, who were currently standing in the room.

"I think we could ask you the same, though."

"Why?!" Kagami did her best in holding back, but she was having a really hard time with it. "That's my answer to you not listening to me after all. I don't need to think about it. I know perfectly well how serious I am and if you don't acknowledge it, then that's not my problem! Why should I stay in the same house with someone who doesn't even listen to me and doubts me with no backup at all?! I'm definitely not in the wrong here!" There was no holding back all anymore.

"Now, now…" Sojiro interrupted her. "First things first… Welcome, I'm Sojiro, Konata's father. Thank you for coming over."

"Ah, y-yes." Miki was taken aback a little from the outbreak of her daughter but quickly recovered. "I'm Miki and the slightly depressive looking man next to me, is my husband Tadao, as you probably already guessed, we're Kagami's parents. Thank you for having us and we're sorry for the trouble…"

"No, it's fine, don't worry about it."

"That's reassuring to hear." The small talk of the parents continued for a couple minutes, but then abruptly came to a stop.

"Okay, that's enough." A vein was about to burst on Kagami's forehead, when her incredibly cold sounding voice killed the cheery conversation. "Again, Why. Are. You. Here?" She was close to losing herself completely, maybe it was already too late, though. Up until now, Kagami always greatly respected and cherished her parents, but since today, that started to crumble and said respect was currently nowhere to be found.

"K-Kagamin~, please wait a minute before you kill them…" Konata had a bad feeling about the whole situation and wanted to reduce further damage to the family relationship. "Miki, it's over, I'm going to end it now. It's obvious that we won, right? We can stop this, sorry… bullshit now." She looked at Miki, who could only sigh in response.

"Yes… please do. I can't look at it anymore, either."

"What's going on?" Kagami's anger momentary changed into confusion.

"W-Well… You see, thanks to how you reacted, Kagamin~, we actually got acknowledged by your parents…" Konata dropped a bomb on her and logically, she didn't understand a single thing.

"W-What?"

"Can you please let me take over from here, Konata?" Tadao looked at her. "I think I should be the one who explains the situation in order to make her hate me a little less…"

"Oh, yeah, sure… Do your best."

"T-Thanks… First off, Kagami, I'm very sorry for everything that happened…"

"You better be!" She was still very angry.

"What happened today… was a family tradition of ours… It was a test to prove your commitment to your relationship."

"Y-You're kidding, right?"

"You saying that you don't need to think about it because you already know how serious you are, was exactly what we wanted to hear. The longer you would've needed to give us an answer after thinking about it, the more we would've doubted you and your relationship. Although, you directly leaving for Konata's place after the discussion was over, even surprised us."

"Oh…" Sojiro chipped in. "If it's about that, I can also guarantee that she's more than just serious… You should've heard her earlier… I even was about to shed a tear there…"

"Oh?" Miki looked very interested.

"What kind of twisted logic is that?!" Kagami interrupted them, for various reasons and Konata nodded in agreement.

"I'm sorry." Tadao had nothing to say in his defense.

"Is that really the only reason of today?"

"Yes."

"Seriously…" Kagami walked over to her father, bent over to him a little and then gave him a hearty forehead flick to soothe her anger. After that, she hugged him. "You're horrible, dad." The malice and pure hatred in her voice was gone, but the damage his dad took because of it still was great.

"Y-Yes…" Tadao sounded incredibly hurt and almost shed a tear, but somehow, no one felt sympathy towards him. "D-Does it help that the tradition comes from Miki's side of the family? It's just that the father is the one who has to do it…"

"Heh~, is that so?" Kagami let go of her father and looked with incredible cold eyes at her mother. Coincidentally, Konata did the same. That's not something Miki had mentioned earlier when she stopped Konata at her house earlier in order to explain the situation.

"W-Well…" Miki could only look away to flee from the glares of the two girls after she got betrayed by her own husband.

"Let me say it again, we're really sorry about what we did to you two." Kagami's parents slightly bowed to the couple and earnestly apologized once more.

"Hah… It's fine…" Kagami didn't care anymore. She just felt stupid for being angry at such a ridiculous thing. "Anyway, does that really mean we're acknowledged by you?"

"Yep, 100%." Miki immediately answered.

"I also have nothing to oppose. I even heard from Miki about Konata's side of the story and combining it with your seriousness, Kagami, I can only give you two my full blessing. Anything else would just be unreasonable after all."

"Yeah… but a lot of unreasonable things happened today…"

"The only thing I want for you is to be happy and starting to be sure that Konata is the key to achieve this."

"Thanks, dad, I think so, too." The relationship between father and daughter was on a good way again, but Konata, on the other hand, could only watch them with a slightly red face. After all, it's impossible to listen to something like this without getting embarrassed.

"Anything to add, Kona?"

"N-No, I'll do my best…." She couldn't say much more than that.

"Hoh~." Sojiro suddenly sounded impressed for some reason. "That's an interesting test the Hiiragi family has there."

"Nonono, it really isn't, dad!"

"Come on, I really would like to join in that…"

"No… Wait… Sure, I don't mind." Konata suddenly changed her mind.

"Eh? Are you sure about that, Kona?"

"Sure, why not? It's not like he's going to get a chance to ever try it on me, now that he's already accepted us."

"Oh, t-that's right…" Kagami got a little bashful herself.

"Are you sure about that, Konata? Not even in the distant future?" It looks like Tadao really has a death wish and so he promptly received a glare from his daughter.

"What do you mean? Why would he be able to use it in the future?" Konata radiated such an innocence that Tadao was taken aback quite a bit, but at the same time, he felt terrible danger coming from a different place.

"Father…" An incredible cold stare was directed at him once again. "Stop it or I'll get really angry _now_."

"Y-You weren't earlier?"

"Eh?" Konata answered for her. "That was stage 3 at most, 'rather agitated'. I made it to stage 6 and trust me, it's really no fun at all at this point anymore."

"I-I see… I will keep that in mind. I won't do it again."

"That's good to hear, dad."

"To be that afraid of his own daughter… I really wonder how you could maintain a straight face at the test earlier…" Miki could only sigh, but at the same time, she was secretly happy that he was the target.

"Aww… too bad…" Sojiro looked a bit sad. "Ah! Maybe I can use it on Yutaka somewhere in the future…"

"Yu-chan? What does she have to do with that?" Konata didn't understand what he meant.

"Well, it's not certain yet… I'll tell you once she made it."

"Eh? Did I miss something?" She got only more confused.

"On a completely unrelated note…" Miki suddenly changed the topic. "Be sure to be prepared when you get home, Kagami…"

"That doesn't sound good at all to me…"

"Inori and Matsuri came home for the weekend earlier and…"

"Oh… K-Konata, Sojiro… the thing about moving in here earlier… Can I do it after all?"

"W-What?" Tadao didn't like the sound of it.

"I still don't really mind, but are your older sisters really that bad?" Konata hadn't much contact with them, but there wasn't much of a bad opinion of them in her memory.

"It's not exactly that… but they're quite similar to mom when they're interested in something… Especially Inori…"

"O-Oh…" Konata immediately understood. "That really runs in your family, huh?"

"Yeah…" Unexpectedly, Tadao was the one who answered her.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Miki and Kagami were in perfect synch and glared at their respective partners.

"Ahaha…" The other two could only laugh dryly in response.

The group kept talking about this and that for some time, but it started to get late.

"I guess that's enough for today. We should better leave." Miki announced and Tadao nodded in agreement. "Are you coming with us, Kagami? We're here with the car after all. That would make it easier for you, wouldn't it?"

"Eh?" Kagami's facial expression was the textbook example of 'What are you talking about?' "No, I was planning on staying here for today since the very beginning anyway."

"I see… You left in a hurry earlier… Did you even bring clothes with you?"

"You just want me to go home in order to get attacked by Inori and Matsuri, right, mom?"

"No way~." It was exactly that.

"Too bad for you, but I easily have enough clothes to stay for a week straight here." Kagami sounded proud for some reason.

"Is that so? Well… I'm really that surprised, though… Okay then, but be sure to come back tomorrow and bring Konata with you."

"Eh? I also have to suffer?"

"Of course, I'm obviously not going to face them alone.

"In good times and bad times, Konata." Miki said so and Konata wanted to retort to her way of wording it, but seeing her grin, she decided to stay silent.

Miki and Tadao finally left and after the door closed behind them, Konata and especially Kagami let out a really big sigh.

"What a day…"

"Yeah…"

"Your parents are pretty nice, Kagami, I wouldn't mind having the meetings more often."

"No!" The girls immediately shot him down. He behaved relatively well today, but the danger of him being… him is rather great.

"Aren't you two a little too mean to me?"

"Come on, you know you like it, dad."

"This and that are totally unrelated…"

"You're not helping yourself, Sojiro."

"Ehh?!" He was shocked.

"Let's go to my room, Kagamin~."

"Good idea." She agreed to her idea and the two left Sojiro alone.

"Now I'm also getting abandoned?"

They ignored his wailing and arrived in Konata's room. Inside, Kagami immediately tackled Konata and both landed on her bed. The day was extremely exhausting for both and so they decided to cuddle with each other until they got sleepy enough to end the day while feeling incredibly happy by the fact that their relationship got approved by their parents.

…..

The next day arrived and after having breakfast, the two girls went back to Kagami's house. She already knew it's a big mistake, but there was nothing she could do at this point anymore. Kagami opened the door and three seconds after stepping in, it was already over. Inori and Matsuri arrived out of thin air and each wrapped an arm around Konata's and Kagami's back. Without being able to do anything against it, they were forcefully dragged into the living room. Konata hoped for a second that Miki maybe would help them, but after arriving in the living room, she immediately realized her foolish way of thinking. Miki was already sitting on the sofa with sparkling eyes.

"There they are, come on and sit down~." She was in a really good mood. The couple really didn't want to, but the older sisters left them no choice and simply made them sit down.

"So, what brings us here?"

"Don't even try, Konata."

"Fine…" After all, it's years too early for her to fool Miki.

"Can't we just get over with it? I have nothing to hide anymore." Kagami wasn't in the mood for playing around the bush.

"Here! Here, me first!" Inori, just like Miki, also was in a mood and accepted Kagami's 'offer'.

"Sure… go on…"

"Is it really true that you introduced someone to dad yesterday?"

"That's true, I did."

"Oho~. Was it fun?" Inori's smile looked pretty mischievous.

"Yeah… it was great." The sarcasm in her words could almost be seen.

"Ahaha, you also weren't a fan of it, huh?"

"Not a fan is good." Miki answered instead. "She got furious, yelled at Tadao, was about to attack him, almost destroyed the door by vigorously slamming it and then she ran away…"

"M-Mom, you don't have to go that much into detail!"

"Wow, you did pretty well… way better than I did back then…"

"You also went through it, huh?" Kagami felt deep sympathy after hearing Inori.

"Yeah, well, but I got a little ahead of myself there. I waited not even a month and it only lasted another one afterward and so I wasn't that sad that I failed afterward…"

"Well, I am more than serious and so, failure wasn't an option, or rather, I couldn't care less about his opinion."

"There are still some hard feelings left, huh?"

"You can't blame me for that, can you, mom?"

"What did he say about… Wait, in the first place… just to make sure, it really is Konata over there you're dating, right?" Inori wanted to avoid a misunderstanding.

"That's why I'm here~." Konata said something for the first time in a while.

"Yes, Kona's my girlfriends, but no, didn't mind it that much. Then again, he was too busy stubbornly following his plan and I was too busy shouting…"

"Oh, that's good to hear." Inori was happy about her father's tolerance.

"Would somebody mind telling me what's going on, or rather, what happens when you introduce someone to dad already?!" Matsuri got angry that she was left out again.

"Nope~, you'll have to find out on your own once it finally happens." Kagami's way of answering really didn't help with the situation at hand.

"Don't get cocky now just because you managed to get into a relationship."

"Oh, that's quite a thing to say for an eternal single like you." Sparks started to fly between Matsuri and Kagami.

"Oh, that's quite a thing to say for someone who merely found a…" Matsuri was about to say something she would terribly regret because she didn't mean it and it just happened because she's angry, but she luckily got saved.

"Now, now, now…" Inori and Konata simultaneously managed to get the attention of the fighting sisters and dispelled their anger. "Matsuri, it's a family tradition and you really have to experience it on your own someday."

"Bad, Kagamin~, bad!" Konata had her very own way of calming down Kagami.

"Shut up, idiot." It always works, though.

"I'm sorry, Kagami, I didn't mean any harm and I'm very happy for you that you found a reliable partner."

"No, I also said too much." The two quickly apologized and further harm was prevented.

"Oi, Konata, where were you my entire life?" Inori turned her attention to her. "I always have to stop the fighting of the two, but it never happened so fast!"

"I studied a lot of Kagamin~ in the past after all."

"I see. You're pretty good."

"You're not half bad yourself." Inori and Konata had a strange mood going on and suddenly shook hands for some reason. Kagami wasn't sure how she should feel about this. Coincidentally, Matsuri neither.

"Enough with the small things! I want details already." Miki got a little pushy.

"Ehh? Didn't I tell you enough already?" Konata didn't like the sound of it.

"Nonono, I want to know everything now." The sparkling in her eyes sent shivers down Konata's spine.

"Hah… Kagamin~, it's your turn now, your mother had already enough fun with me…"

"I guess that's only fair… probably…" Saying so, Kagami deeply inhaled and told them everything, at least everything she's not going to take into her grave. Starting with how they met each other, how they feelings changed over the course of time, actually falling in love, suffering, getting together, dating each other and many details that happen in between those. It almost took her half an hour before she was able to finish her recap and as a result, Miki looked pretty satisfied. Inori and Matsuri, on the other hand, were more surprised than satisfied. They hadn't expected to hear so much from her little sister, especially with so many emotions.

"W-Wow… so serious! In a good way, I mean…"

"Indeed… that's… intense. The little one overtook us, no, overlapped us both, huh?" Matsuri and Inori were amazed by Kagami and Konata.

"You both know that I don't do thing halfheartedly after all." Kagami looked pretty smug.

"That's a good thing. Like this, there's no one who couldn't accept you two. No one who's reasonable, that is." Miki was proud of her daughter.

"Yeah, but it's still a good thing that everyone around us is so supporting. Ignoring that Hiiragi test, the only one who remotely had a solid argument against it, was my dad, but even that got nullified by Kagamin~, right?"

"Y-Yeah…" She immediately turned red and seeing that Konata quickly followed suit. Miki, seeing that, naturally got interested.

"Oh~, what happened there, I wonder."

"N-Nothing, definitely nothing at all!" Kagami didn't help herself.

"Interesting… I think I have to call Konata's father later on…"

"D-Don't do that! Kona, tell Sojiro that I'll kill him if he says anything!"

"K-Kagamin~, please calm down, saying that to him would only be a reward and would have the opposite effect." Seeing the talk drifting to something she wasn't interested in, Inori spoke up again.

"You know, I've been wondering about something now… Kagami's into girls and Tsukasa is her twin… Does it work like that or has that nothing to do with each other?" She asked a random question, but Konata and Kagami instantly froze up. The reason for that was obviously Miyuki.

"W-Well, we are fraternal twins in the first place, so I don't think so… I'm not sure it works like that anyway, either… Ahaha…" Kagami really had no idea, but looking at Tsukasa and Miyuki, she at least could take a rough guess.

"Y-Yeah… They don't even have the famous twin telepathy going on... I-I also don't think it works like that… probably…" Konata also didn't help much and Miki, for some reason, looked like she found some new prey.

The group talked some more, but Matsuri's eyes started to wander between Konata and Kagami after some time.

"Hey, Konata, could you come over for a second?"

"Sure?" She looked confused, but still stood up and walked towards Matsuri. Arriving there, she grabbed Konata and made her sit down on her lap. "Ehm… Okay..." She looked even more confused.

"You don't mind, right?"

"Not really…" But instead, Konata looked at the one who was minding it. Kagami remained silent, but her eyelid was already twitching and she looked slightly scary.

"That's good."

"Mind I ask why, though?"

"Just wanting to tease Kagami a little."

"I see. We're pretty similar, huh? That's also a hobby of mine."

"Inori's right, you are pretty good…" Matsuri had fun, but Kagami couldn't take it anymore and looked hopeful at Inori in order to get help and she actually started to move.

"Hey, Matsuri, could you?"

"Sure~." She readily accepted and Kagami looked happy, but only for a second, that is. Konata stood up, but was immediately grabbed by Inori, who sat her down on her lap and hugged Konata's waist.

"Eh? You also like to tease Kagamin~?" Konata hadn't expected to land on Inori's lap next.

"Hmm? Not really… You just looked so small and cuddly on Matsuri's lap that I had to try it for myself. It looks like Kagami discovered something good here.

"Oh, and you're pretty similar to Kagamin~, huh? She always says something similar."

"Hoh~." She sounded impressed, but said Kagami in question was reaching a critical point. Not only was she jealous before, anger and strong embarrassment were also in the mix now. She got up, grabbed Konata's arms and forcefully removed her from Inori's lap. She went back to her place and hugged Konata so tightly on her own lap that there was no one who would be able to separate them. The word 'mine' was written all over Kagami's face when she glared at her older sisters. Seeing that, Inori, Matsuri, and also Miki looked extremely satisfied. Konata could only smile wryly. She felt a bit stupid for being treated as a mascot or pet, but honestly, she didn't mind it much at all.

"You got a good one there, Kagami, it's decided, you can keep her." Inori took a liking to Konata.

"Yep, she can stay." So did Matsuri.

"Kona, we're going to stay at your place even more often now." Kagami had mixed feelings about her sister, or rather, no, they were pretty clear.

"Ehh? No fair, keeping her all to yourself is no good."

"She's _my_ girlfriend after all!"

"So possessive~." Inori also likes to tease Kagami in the end after all.

"Okay, we're done here." Kagami had enough. "Let's go to my room, Kona."

"Sure?" The two stood up, Kagami grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the living room, but she wasn't fast enough.

"Hey, Kagami, leave the door open so you two won't… Eh?" Matsuri wanted to tease her sister with something meant as a joke again, but looking at her face, she wasn't able to finish her sentence and her eyes grew wide. Kagami had immediately understood what Matsuri wanted to imply, but instead of getting angry and making a snappy reply, her face got rather red and Kagami just dragged Konata faster out of the room. She stomped up the stairs into her room and sure enough, the sound of a door closing shut could clearly be heard in the living room. This was completely outside the range of what Matsuri was expecting and so, she looked completely stupefied. Inori and, to some lesser degree, Miki as well also were rather surprised and so, the living room remained silent for a while.

…..

The couple arrived in her room and Kagami immediately wanted to vent her displeasure by continuing where she left off before. She sat down on her bed, grabbed Konata and used her as a hug pillow. Konata thought about addressing what just happened before they left because Kagami probably hadn't noticed, but after thinking about it, she decided against it. Five minutes passed, but still, nothing had changed.

"Ehm… Kagamin~, how long…"

"Until I'm satisfied." She only increased her grip around Konata's waist.

"I see…"

"Just so you know, that could take a while."

"I know that much already, Kagamin~. Feel free to take your time and when you're done, add a couple extra minutes for me as well~."

"Now that's a request I can agree with." Kagami seemed happy and a, not further mentioned, period of time had passed before she let go of Konata again. Kagami let herself fall down sideways on her bed and Konata did the same. The two continued to relax in silence for some more time.

"Another exhausting day, huh?" Even though Konata wasn't in the focus today, in terms of getting teased, she still was tired.

"The second one in a row, yeah…" Kagami had it way harder in these days and so, her sigh was considerably stronger.

"But we sure are lucky, aren't we?"

"Absolutely… To be accepted by everyone is really great. Well, I'll give my dad a hard time the next week or so, but still…"

"It totally feels like a weight was lifted off my shoulders…"

"Indeed, and we don't have to hold back now anymore."

"I wonder if the other will see a difference, though…"

"Ahaha…"

The two continued to laze around on the bed while feeling happy and relieved by everything that happened, but then they heard something suspicious.

"Hey, Kagamin~…" Konata was the first to notice.

"Yeah, I just heard it as well… Excuse me for a moment." Kagami left the bed, went to the door and abruptly opened it. Three seconds passed and the door closed again. Her glare changed into a smirk and then she got back to Konata on the bed again.

"Good job, Kagamin~." Konata gave her a thump up after the outside of the room was silent again. "Your family is great, though." Their laziness continued after this, but then Kagami noticed that she got a message on her phone. She grabbed it and her face suddenly cramped up.

"Geh, it's from your father… Why does he has my number again, Kona?"

"Well, he kept telling me to carry my phone with me in case something happens, but it sounded like a pain and so I thought giving him your number would serve the same purpose. We're always together anyway."

"You know, there are still some days where I genuinely hate you, Kona."

"So, what does he write?" She just ignored her.

"Let me see…" Kagami looked at the text and soon started to smile before finally breaking into laughter. "… Hah, your dad is such an idiot…"

"Heh? I mean, I kind of know, but…" Konata looked confused at first, but after seeing the text herself, she couldn't help it and started laughing as well.

[Hey, Kagami, is it too late to shout _'I won't let you have my daughter!'_? I always wanted to say that line, but I completely forgot about it yesterday…]

After that, the two basically stayed the entire day in Kagami's room and did next to nothing. At least nothing productive, that is. Then again, cuddling is the most productive thing in the world, according to both.

* * *

.

Rant ahead!

And here's another chapter faster than expected. Usually, I make a ½ - ¾ page long concept of the chapter with the most important points, but this time, said concept was almost six pages long and it somehow made it way easier…

Funny thing, I originally wanted to add way more in this chapter and maybe even get to the end of their second year, but that totally didn't work, like, at all.

Konata finally lifted the mystery of her father's light novel. Not that anyone's surprised, though. I still have more with it planned, but in this chapter, I took the easy way out.

Anyway, that one here is also one of those chapters that are more than two years old and based on the original plan of the story. I obviously had to make a ton of changes, though…

I'm not sure if the purpose of the Tadao/Hiiragi test was clear in the end because it somehow worked better in my head, but I guess the idea should be okay. Although, I almost think they're a bit too serious with the whole thing in this chapter… I mean, they're both only 17 and reality often doesn't work that way. Sometimes, it does, though, and that's also exactly how I want my story to be.

Coming out to your family is in reality also often way harder (emotional wise) and what Tadao did as a test here isn't rare to happen without a being a test in the background and entirely basing on the fact of a couple being two girls and saying things like 'Why would they be serious?' or 'It's just a phase anyway' from outsiders, but in the end, I always wanted it to be a light-hearted story. I mean, I really don't need depressing things in stuff I read/write. I added the test just to have Kagami react to it and how she would handle a situation like this. Lately, I often tended to put Konata in a better light when it comes to serious things, but Kagami even puts her above her own parents and that really shows her commitment. The good thing is, though, people are a lot more open about it nowadays and people who are like almost everyone in my story actually also are increasing (I actually know a lot of them). Ten or so years ago, it was way worse. Sojiro's concern about grandchildren is probably the only thing that still has a little weight to it. The only viable ways right now are adoption or getting a third-party donor. Honestly, I don't like the donor idea at all because in the end, biologically it's not the child of both and that's somehow… Well, I like adoption more. While there is no common blood, everyone's on equal ground to absolutely equally love the child and most importantly, the adopted child also gets a family. Science actually is advancing in terms of two egg or two sperm babies, but if ever, it's going to take time, a lot of it. Long rant short, even if it generates problems, it still wouldn't change who you are and to begin with, how many straight couples decide against children nowadays anyway?

On a completely unrelated note, in order to change the topic. Something funny happened last week. On a whim, I ordered like 60 (translated) mangas, to support the author a little, and let it deliver to my mother's place because I'm never at home when I'm supposed to get a delivery. My little sister knew about that and wanted to take a look. Interesting thing is, I'm still missing the Kindred Spirits on the Roof Collection and the first volume of Bloom into You… I wonder why… I think I should probe into that soon… That could be very informative…

Back to topic… The next chapter… I think I should include a big piece of Tsukasa and Miyuki because the last chapter ended rather interesting for them. Maybe they get a Christmas chapter instead of Konata and Kagami… Not sure yet. I also want to get closer to the third year. Not sure how far I get, but maybe a little introduction of the first-year cast. Although, I maybe have to re-watch the anime first for that or even better, read the manga once more because it has way more content when it comes to Yutaka and co.

(Now I better stop before the notes are getting longer than the actual chapter…)


	29. A complicated Christmas

A little while since Konata and Kagami told their families about their relationship passed and now it's almost time for their, mostly, well-earned winter break. It was the last day before the start of the holiday and the girls were currently having their lunch break at school. Something was different, though.

"Hey, where's Miyuki?" Kagami quickly realized that someone was missing when she arrived in the classroom of the others.

"Ah… Yuki-chan emailed me in the morning that she caught a cold and had to take the day off.

"Oh, that's unfortunate."

"Well, depending on how long her cold lasts, she either has the best or worse luck to catch a cold on the last day of school…" Konata naturally had her own way of thinking.

"I'll go visit her today, but knowing Yuki-chan, it's probably not just a small one when she has to stay absent from school."

"You're going to look after her? That's nice."

"An airhead's going to nurse another one, huh? That's pretty moe… I actually almost want to see that…"

"Oh, you want to come with me, Kona-chan?" Tsukasa either ignored or didn't understand in the first place what Konata said. "You as well, onee-chan?"

"Eh… no, we're fine… It's best if you go alone and take care of her on your own…"

"Yep, do your best, sis." Konata and Kagami had absolutely no intention to join because they only would get in their way.

"Okay…"

"Try not to catch her cold, though~."

"Kona… ehm, no… she's right, sis. Take care." Kagami first wanted to complain because of Konata's remark, but after thinking about it, the chance of it is relatively high.

"I'm not sure if I can promise that."

"Oho." It wasn't the answer Konata was expecting, but she wasn't disappointed at all.

….

School ended and Tsukasa had just parted with Konata and Kagami at the station because she decided to immediately head over to Miyuki's place. She arrived there and after ringing the doorbell, Yukari, Miyuki's mother, opened the door.

"Oh, Tsukasa, long time, no see…"

"Wasn't it just like… three days?"

"That's already pretty long for you, isn't it?"

"Uhh…" Tsukasa had no comeback. "… How's Yuki-chan doing?"

"Well… Her cold's pretty bad… She's probably sleeping right now."

"Is it okay for me to look after her for a bit?"

"Actually… I'm also starting to feel a little under the weather… so it even would be a great help."

"I see. Well then, please take it easy and excuse me." Tsukasa took off her shoes and went to Miyuki's room. She entered and sure enough, Miyuki really was asleep. Just like Yukari said, her complexion looked really bad. Judging by how she was sweating in her sleep and how red her face was, her fever seemed to be pretty high. Tsukasa sat down next to her bed and decided to quietly wait until she wakes up.

An hour passed and Miyuki finally started to wake up. She opened her eyes and blinked a few times because she saw something unexpected.

"Eh… Why is Tsukasa-san here…?" She looked at the girl next to her bed, who was currently resting her head on the blanket while peacefully sleeping on her own. "Ah… I see… My fever's so high that I'm hallucinating already, huh?" Miyuki placed her hand on the head of the 'illusion', but it felt strangely real for some reason.

"Mhmng…?" Tsukasa let out a cute sound that loosely resembled a yawn after she felt something on her head and woke up. "G-Good morning, Yuki-chan… Hmm…? Oh, it looks like I fell asleep on my own, huh? Wait… That's wrong… Good evening, Yuki-chan." That wasn't the problem at all, but she still corrected herself.

"Ah! It's the real Tsukasa-san!"

"Eh?! W-Was there a fake one here before?!"

"N-No… I just wasn't expecting you and thought my fever's playing a trick on me…"

"Ah, no, it's definitely the real me." Not that a fake one would say anything different, but that's not important.

"That's very nice…"

"So, how are you feeling, Yuki-chan? Not that I really have to ask…"

"Well… I've slept for the entire day and so, right now at least, it's… okay, but overall, really not good… My fever's pretty high… my throat's sore… cloggy nose… All in all, a best of collection of everything…"

"Yeah… I can see and hear most of it." Miyuki looked and sounded sick after all. "Is it okay for you when I stay?"

"I'm probably going back to sleep soon. I think it could get pretty boring for you…"

"Don't worry about it, I brought some manga I borrowed from Kona-chan a couple days ago to read… I just wanted to keep you some company because being alone when sick is never nice…"

"T-Thank you very much… Feel free to stay as long as you want then…" Miyuki was actually happy about her fever right now because her face was already red.

"Ehehe… So, is there anything you wa-…" Tsukasa was about to ask if she needs something when Miyuki's stomach answered her already.

"I-It's a bit embarrassing, but I haven't eaten anything at all today…"

"That's a start. How does some rice porridge sounds?"

"I would like that very much. Can I trouble you with it?"

"Of course! There's no need to be so reserved."

"Thank you very much."

"It's probably going to take half an hour, so wait a bit, okay?"

"Sure… Maybe I'll just take another short nap then."

"That's a good idea." Saying so, Tsukasa left the room and headed over to the kitchen.

A little over 30 minutes passed and she came back with a pot of perfectly cooked rice porridge.

"Welcome back… Tsukasa-san."

"I'm back~. Sleeping wasn't possible?"

"No… It seems that I'm actually too hungry to sleep…"

"Good thing it took just half an hour then." Tsukasa walked to Miyuki and sat down next to her on the edge of the bed. "Here, say 'Ah~'." After gently blowing on it, she put a spoonful portion of porridge next to her face and waited for a reaction.

"I-I can at least eat on my own…!"

"Is that so?" She was doubting her words.

"Y-Yes." Miyuki tried to lift her body in a sitting position and grab the spoon, but she had already failed at lifting a single arm.

"Ah~." Tsukasa saw her futile attempt and was rather satisfied with the outcome.

"Okay… Ahn…" Miyuki gave up and obediently let Tsukasa have her way with feeding her. The hunger won over her dignity.

"Yay~!" She happily started feeding her, but also got a little worried about Miyuki's fever getting stronger because it looked like her face was getting redder.

The most embarrassing ordeal of eating something, in Miyuki's eyes, took almost 15 minutes, but thanks to having something in her stomach, she was feeling a little better for the moment.

"T-Thank you very much, Tsukasa-san, it was really good."

"Ehehe~, I'm happy to hear it." She had a bashful smile on her face. Praising really works on her. "Anything else you need?"

"W-Well…" She was reluctant to continue.

"There's no need to hold back, Yuki-chan."

"I-I'm feeling rather sweaty, so… a change of clothes would be nice, b-but…"

"I-I see…" She started to understand why Miyuki was hesitating. If she can't even eat on her own, there's no way she can change her own clothes. "O-Okay, new pajama's coming right up…" Tsukasa went to the drawer and fetched a new one. After going back to the bed, she was unsure how to continue. "Uhm…"

"I'm sorry, b-but I really need help after all…"

"Yes…" Tsukasa swallowed her hesitation and gently grabbed Miyuki's arms and lifted up her upper body. Then she went behind her and while facing her back, Tsukasa helped Miyuki getting rid of her top by lifting her arms. Seeing her bare back made it a little complicated to continue, but she decided to do her best for Miyuki's sake. "U-Uhm… should I wipe your back now that we're at it already…?"

"That would help, bit… if possible, just my back… okay?"

"O-Of course…" That was all Tsukasa could handle anyway right now. Miyuki's complete defenselessness, thanks to her being sick, was pressuring her quite a bit. She grabbed a nearby towel and quickly rubbed her back dry, without ever forgetting to be gentle, of course, and then she helped her put on a new pajama top.

"T-Thank you very much, Tsukasa-san."

"T-That was nothing…" She couldn't even deceive herself. For some reason, she looked even more tired than the sick Miyuki. Tsukasa left the bed and quickly sat down on a chair. To direct her attention to something else, she grabbed a random manga she brought from Konata and hid her face in it. The room stayed silent for a while and the mood was a little weird. Five more minutes passed until Tsukasa finally noticed that she was holding the manga upside down.

"Hey, Tsukasa-san… Is it okay for me to sleep a little? I'm feeling a bit…"

"O-Of course. There's no need to pay attention to me."

"Okay…" Miyuki closed her eyes soon after and Tsukasa was concentrating on her, now the right way facing manga.

About an hour passed and it somehow seemed that Miyuki's condition was getting worse because her breathing sounded rougher. Tsukasa noticed this, put her manga away and moved to the bed. She looked at Miyuki's face and saw that it became even redder and she also noticed that she was shivering quite a bit.

"Are you okay… Yuki-chan?" While looking at her state, Tsukasa had gotten worried. Hearing her voice, Miyuki started to wake up.

"Uhhh... I-I'm feeling really cold… Could you be so nice and bring me another blanket?"

"Sure… Wait a moment…" She was about to go to look for a blanket when he suddenly stopped while looking like she just had gotten a better idea. Tsukasa faced the bed again and suddenly climbed into it. She crawled next to Miyuki under the blanket and hugged her out of nowhere.

"W-W-What are you doing?!"

"Hugging you…"

"I-I can see that much, but why…?" Miyuki had a hard time keeping up with the situation.

"B-Body warmth's more effective, right? Also, it feels n-nicer, doesn't it…?" Tsukasa acted without thinking and now was starting to get embarrassed at her own action, but helping Miyuki right now had a higher importance. Although, it was rather questionable whether her idea actually helps with Miyuki's condition or not.

"T-That's true… but you do know that I have a cold, yes? Doing this is basically a guarantee that you'll get infected… I don't want you to get sick as well…"

"I don't care about that, Yuki-chan. I just want you to feel better. Catching your cold is a little price to pay."

"B-But…"

"Until you say you hate me being here, I'm not going to yield."

"W-Why are you so stubborn?"

"I don't know… I just can't see you suffering on your own here…"

"Okay… I'll accept your kindness, but please don't complain when you really get infected with my cold… and try to wait until I get better so that I can help you in return then…"

"Ehehe~. Tsukasa increased the intensity of her hug and looked really happy.

"Haa…" Miyuki sighed, made a mental note that she has to stop spoiling her so much and tried to sleep. It was a promise she often did to herself, but one look at Tsukasa was always enough to immediately break it again. Feeling the warmth of the girl next to her made Miyuki extremely drowsy and quickly lured her back into the land of dreams. Tsukasa saw the relaxed look on her sleeping face and she immediately knew that she's not going to regret catching a cold. It didn't take long until she got sleepy herself and before Tsukasa realized it, it became the morning of the next day.

Miyuki was doing a little better in the beginning, but as the day progressed, she basically felt as bad as the day before. To get over it, she more or less slept the entire day while Tsukasa took great care of her. Evening arrived and thanks to Tsukasa taking a liking to what happened the day before, Miyuki's bed was again a little more cramped than usual. Miyuki actually was feeling a little cold again and so, she said nothing when she noticed Tsukasa crawling into her bed and she just let herself get hugged by her. Enjoying the warmth once more, both fell asleep really quick.

…

The next day arrived and Miyuki immediately realized that she was feeling better than yesterday, but something wasn't right. She moved around a little in her bed and quickly found out what was bugging her. Tsukasa, who she slept together in the bed with, was missing. Miyuki sat up straight on her bed and looked around in her room, but there was no one.

"Sorry it took so long… for some reason, I'm a little slow today…" The door suddenly opened and Tsukasa entered the room while holding a tray in her hands.

"Ah… uh, no, I just woke up two minutes ago, don't worry about it. What are you holding there, Tsukasa-san?"

"I made breakfast for us. Your complexion earlier looked way better than yesterday and so I thought you would like to eat something else than porridge. Well, it's still only toast, eggs, and stuff like that, but I guess that's already something." Tsukasa handed over the tray to Miyuki and sat down next to her on the bed.

"Thank you very much." Miyuki happily accepted it and the two started eating.

"So, are you really feeling better today?" Tsukasa asked so after the food was gone.

"Hmm… I definitely am not fully recovered yet, but it does feel like I'm on a good way."

"That's very reassuring to hear. Do you perhaps mind if I turn on the TV? Actually, there's a drama I usually watch around this time…"

"Not really, no, I think I also could use a change of pace." Miyuki grabbed the remote from her nightstand and handed it over to Tsukasa, who turned on the TV and changed the channel to the one she wanted. After that, she made herself pretty comfortable under the blanket and concentrated on the TV. Miyuki, maybe because of still having a fever or maybe because of something entirely else, said nothing and instead, actually inched closer to Tsukasa before also starting to intensely look at the TV. Although, if you would ask her later on what the drama was about, she would have a very hard time with answering.

A considerable amount of time passed and the drama Tsukasa wanted to watch was already long over, but the two hadn't realized that at all. Both had fallen asleep at some point and unconsciously focused on providing warmth to each other. Experts on the subject, namely Konata and Kagami, would say there were simply cuddling with each other, but that was only one way to look at the situation of Miyuki and Tsukasa tightly hugging each other in the bed.

Another hour passed and the two were awake again by now. The actual act of waking up was a little awkward, but that was nothing they couldn't overcome or at least, skillfully ignored.

"Weird… Somehow, I feel more tired after the nap than before…" Tsukasa most likely wanted to have an extension.

"You do? Actually, I feel really refreshed, though…" Miyuki's recovery was progressing well.

"Hmm…" Tsukasa looked at her and then she placed a hand on Miyuki's forehead in order to check her temperature. Afterward, she placed her hand on her own forehead to compare the temperature. "Oh, your fever's gone, Yuki-chan. That's one speedy recovering you're having today."

"Uhh… While I'm indeed feeling better, I really don't think my fever's already gone…"

"We're having exactly the same temperature, though. At least that's how it feels to me…" Tsukasa was a little confused after her diagnosis.

"Uhm…" Miyuki, on the other hand, had a bad feeling about it. "Hold still for a minute…" She grabbed the thermometer she still had on her nightstand and took Tsukasa's temperature with it. While doing so, her face quickly darkened.

"What's wrong, Yuki-chan?"

"Ahaha… Well, as it looks like, we both are right…"

"Eh?"

"You see… I still have a slight fever, but at the same time, we _do_ have the same temperature…"

"You mean…"

"Yeah, I'm very sorry that you caught my cold after all in the end…" She looked a little sad and guilty.

"But I'm feeling gre- ACHOO!- at, though." Talk about great timing.

"You were saying?" Miyuki dubiously looked at her while handing a tissue over.

"N-Nevermind… Thanks… Looks like you could be right… There's no need to feel dejected about it, Yuki-chan. You're not at fault at all. It was my own decision and I'm not regretting it in the slightest. After all, you're already feeling relatively good again and it was faster than you thought, right?"

"T-That's true, but… still…" She was touched, but couldn't really accept it.

"Everything's fine." She insisted on it.

"Okay… Hey, but now I can take care of you when it's getting worse like promised and repay you, right?" Miyuki still looked sad, but the thought of helping Tsukasa made it a little better and she almost started to look forward to it.

"There's no need to repay me, but I'm counting on you then." Tsukasa smiled at her and the mood brightened up again. They were still talking about Tsukasa's condition to worsen and her getting pretty sick, but that didn't seem to be much of a problem.

"A-Anyway…" Miyuki felt like they had gotten lost somewhere along the way. "Do you want to watch some more TV or maybe take a nap?"

"TV doesn't sound so bad."

"Okay, is it okay if I read a book in the meantime?"

"Feel free to do whatever you want." Tsukasa concentrated on the TV again and Miyuki started reading a book she had placed nearby before. And so, without ever leaving the bed again, a little over an hour passed, but then Miyuki suddenly felt a weight on her shoulder. When she looked to her side, she saw that Tsukasa started resting her head on said shoulder.

"Is everything okay?" She wasn't thinking about it much, but after actually looking at Tsukasa's slightly pained face, she got a little worried.

"W-Well… I'm starting to remember that having a cold actually… pretty sucks…"

"I'm very sorry, but yeah, that's indeed true."

"It feels like my temperature's rising… I feel bad and I'm suuuper tired…"

"You know, it's maybe a little late, but wouldn't it actually be better if you were at home now?" Miyuki thought she would prefer fighting a cold in her own home, but was greatly mistaken.

"Eh? N-No way! I want to stay here, together with Yuki-chan…" Tsukasa strongly objected and Miyuki had nothing more to say in that regard.

"Okay…" The pleading face of Tsukasa is way too effective on her.

"Y-Yay… I would like to take a nap, though…"

"Of course, don't let me hinder you." Miyuki put her book away and was about to leave the to give her some room, but Tsukasa had other plans.

"Thanks…" She snuggled closer to her, in fact, so close that Miyuki was unable to move and then Tsukasa closed her eyes. Unable to react in time, she could only watch her falling asleep in a matter of minutes.

"Haa… I wonder if she's doing that on purpose… or is that just how she is… being that cute, it is…" Miyuki continued to watch the sleeping girl next to her with a gentle smile on her face. As time progressed, she started talking to herself again. "What a girl… Taking care of me for over two days, catching my cold in the end, and not a single complaint… She's just happy to be of use, huh? Not that she was ever not useful in my eyes, though… I'm really grateful for having her… as a friend… I never had a less annoying cold… I have to make sure to pay her back and praise her a lot, that makes her the happiest after all… What a lovable girl… Haa…" Miyuki could only sigh when she looked at Tsukasa again. "Just what is our relationship exactly? We aren't just friends… are we?" Instead of finding answers, the questions just continued to pile up. "But, just like Konata-san said some time ago, we also aren't a couple… right? In the first place, do I want us to be one? It's true that I'm extremely curious and interested in the whole matter, but… Huh? Wait, there is no but, isn't there? Tsukasa-san's definitely a jackpot… My feelings for her are strong and sincere, but is it really like that? Do I really like girls? It's true that I'm incredibly envious of Konata-san and Kagami-san and the mere thought of Tsukasa-san having a similar relationship with someone else…" Her face suddenly looked scary. "Yes, I don't like it… It feels painful and I really don't like it at all, no, I hate it! That's not for me to decide, though… I know that she has a favorable opinion of me and it feels like I'm special to her. She's, just like me, also envious of her sister and Konata-san, but is that really enough? Let's step back a bit… Do I really want to progress our relationship? Do I really want to go further? To where exactly in the first place? Aren't I satisfied with things are right now? Aren't I having fun Tsukasa-san every day? Isn't it fulfilling enough already? It's not like I'm missing out on anything, right? Right…?" Just when she was trying to believe her own deceivings, she felt Tsukasa next to her moving and before she knew it, Miyuki felt the girl's arms wrapped around her body as Tsukasa increased her embrace. "… W-Where was I again? Ah… I'm definitely missing out on something, right?" Something changed in her statement. "H-Huh? W-What's going on…?" Due to Tsukasa embracing her and the flood of questions tormenting her, Miyuki suddenly felt dizzy and it seemed like her fever was increasing again. Thanks to that, because she didn't want her health to further deteriorate again, she gave up on her thoughts about Tsukasa, that were going nowhere anyway, and decided to copy the girl and also take another nap to fully recover. Because if she isn't healthy soon, she can't properly nurse Tsukasa. Throwing all those confusing and difficult thoughts in an empty corner of her head, Miyuki simply returned the embrace of Tsukasa. After enjoying the warmth of a very important person for a while, she also fell asleep. Just like that, another day passed.

…

The morning of the following day. Miyuki was feeling rather good and also her fever was nearly gone. She remembered her monolog from yesterday, together with how Tsukasa was still tightly hugging her in her sleep and the fact that Miyuki was finally able to clearly grasp the situation after recovering, she suddenly felt extremely embarrassed. If anything, she just wanted to hide somewhere for the time being. In order to do so, she was about to leave the bed, but when she took a better look at Tsukasa, Miyuki promptly stopped. She looked really bad. Her entire face was red, her breathing extremely rough and she was completely covered in cold sweat. Taking her temperature would just be a waste of time. As if feeling the stare on her, Tsukasa soon started to wake up.

"G-Good morning… Yuki-chan… How are you feeling… today?"

"It should definitely be me who's asking this question, Tsukasa-san! Then again… I don't really need to ask…"

"Ehehe… Y-Yes, I feel really terrible…" Tsukasa could only laugh at herself, but Miyuki somehow didn't find it funny at all.

"That's nothing to laugh off! Quickly take some medicine, please!" Miyuki directly grabbed the medicine she was taking until yesterday and together with a glass of water, she made Tsukasa swallow it.

"Thank you… and I'm very sorry, Yuki-chan…"

"I-It's not your fault… After all, it's my fault you're having…"

"… Don't forget it was my decision to risk it." Even while being sick, Tsukasa made sure that Miyuki didn't blame herself for the situation right now.

"Yes… You really are an incredible girl…"

"What was that?"

"N-Nothing!"

"Really? I thought I heard something…"

"You're probably just imagining things."

"Ahaha… My fever's pretty high, isn't it?"

"That's true… Hey, I have to ask again now that it got much worse… Wouldn't it really be better for you to be at home, Tsukasa-san? I'm sure my mother could drive you…"

"N-No, I absolutely… don't want to leave! Being alone when sick… I don't want that! I'm going to be way too lonely! No… I'm staying with Yuki-chan…" Despite being really weak at the moment, Tsukasa's refusal was backed up by a great amount of force.

"Haa…" Miyuki could only sigh in defeat. She already knew the answer and saying no to her was impossible in the first place. Deep down, she actually felt happy that Tsukasa wants to stay with her no matter what. "Okay… but be sure to sleep a lot."

"Yes!"

"What a stubborn girl… So, now it's really my turn to take care of you, huh?"

"I'm looking forward to it~." She's still as playful as ever.

"Please have high expectations." Miyuki was pretty happy to return the favor. "Do you want to eat something?"

"Something soup-like would be nice… I would love to help you, but I neither can nor should leave the bed…"

"It's good that you realize it yourself. Well then, I'll head to the kitchen for a bit. Try to rest in the meanwhile for a bit, okay?" Miyuki went to the kitchen and started preparing the soup. Half an hour passed and she came back to her room with a bowl of simple vegetable soup. "So… How do we…" Miyuki wanted to ask how Tsukasa's going to eat, but the answer was a bit complicated for her.

"Ah~…" She just opened her mouth and waited to be fed.

"R-Really…?" Miyuki just realized that taking care of Tsukasa might be harder, or rather, more nerve-wracking, than she initially thought. Despite that, she still sat down on the bed next to her and started feeding the girl. While doing so, Miyuki made another important discovery; Feeding someone is about three times more embarrassing than getting fed. Thanks to that, her face became even redder than that over the fever-stricken Tsukasa.

"Ehehe~, thank you very much, Yuki-chan." She was enjoying the situation. Miyuki, on the other hand, looked rather relieved when the soup was finally gone.

"B-By the way, have you called your house already? You should at least tell them that you're sick."

"Urgh! C-Could you… do that for me?"

"Are you fearing that they'll take you home by force when they hear your voice?"

"H-Huh? Uh… Yes! T-That's exactly it." Apparently, that wasn't the reason. Tsukasa was behaving suspiciously, but Miyuki had no reason to refuse and so she grabbed the phone and called Tsukasa's house.

"Good day… Yes, this is Miyuki speaking… Yes, it's about Tsukasa-san… No, nothing that sort happened. It's just that while she was looking after me, she somehow ended up catching my cold and now… Eh? How she caught my cold? Ehm… H-Huh?! T-That's not what… Ah, it probably happened when we slept toge-… NONONO, I didn't mean it like that… I was just feeling cold due to my cold… Really! … A-Anyway, it looks like she wants to stay here with me no matter what, so… Yes… It means that I'll be taking care of her until she recovers… Absolutely… I-Is that so? … I'll do my best! G-Good bye…" Miyuki was having a hard time on the phone and when she finally ended the call, she looked very tired.

"Y-Yuki-chan?" Tsukasa seemed worried, but for some reason, she also couldn't look her in the eyes.

"Your mother is… interesting, to say the least…"

"Ahaha… *cough cough*… au…" Tsukasa could only laugh dryly because she knew that Miki was behaving a little weird lately, but immediately started coughing afterward.

"Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine… Well, not really… not in the slightest actually, but you know what I mean…"

"Yeah…"

"S-Speaking of which, is it possible for me to infect you as well again… making some sort of endless loop out of it?"

"Isn't it a bit late for that question? After making it really clear that you're going to stay, that is?"

"Tehe~… I'm very sorry."

"I don't think I'm fully recovered in the first place, but no, it's rather unlikely that the same viruses affect me this much a second time."

"That relieves me very much."

"Your priorities are rather…"

"I'm sick after all~." She wasn't sorry at all.

"Is that so? I think you should rest much then, Tsukasa-san."

"Hehe… Actually, that isn't such a bad idea. I guess I'll take it easy for now."

"You really should." Miyuki finally left the bed, giving Tsukasa more place for herself, sat down on a chair, and started reading a book. Tsukasa made herself more comfortable and because she soon got bored, she decided to continue reading her manga until she got sleepy. When Miyuki saw that she fell asleep, she walked up close again and put away the manga on top of Tsukasa's chest. Taking a closer look at her, Miyuki noticed that it looked like Tsukasa's temperature was rising. Because of that, she fetched on of her leftover cold compresses and placed it on her forehead while hoping it'll help her.

The following hours continued in a similar manner. Miyuki quietly read her book most of the time while occasionally looking after her or changing the compress. At some point, Tsukasa began getting a little restless and faint sounds could be heard from her.

"Yu… ki-chan…" Upon recognizing these words, she immediately rushed to Tsukasa side, but looking at her made clear that she wasn't actually calling for Miyuki, but rather, was having a vivid dream because she obviously was still asleep. Miyuki sighed in relief that she wasn't in pain, but she let down her guard too early. Tsukasa's dreams, especially those induced by a fever, are something else. "N-Not there… Yuki-chan, that's…"

"Eh…?" She just dumbfoundedly stared at her.

"Yeah, there's right…"

W-Where?!"

"Of course… it's okay…"

"What is?"

"After all, we're… now."

"We're what now?" Before she even realized, Miyuki was having a lively conversation with the sleeping Tsukasa.

"Kyaa~." Someone looked like she was having fun in her dream.

"I really want to know what's going on there…"

"You can't~…"

"Is she… Is she really asleep?" She started doubting the whole thing and so she got closer to Tsukasa's face to make sure. Once she was fairly sure that she was indeed asleep, wanted to step back again.

"Do it again~." Tsukasa suddenly wrapped her arms around her neck and the next thing Miyuki realized, was that her face instantly got incredibly close to Tsukasa's. Whatever happened in her dream that Miyuki should do again, it was a rather 'dangerous' thing to do in reality with someone who was, more or less, at least, asleep.

"Oh no!" Just when their faces were about to touch, Miyuki regained her senses and started to struggle. She broke free from the embrace and landed next to Tsukasa on the bed in the progress.

"Ehehe… perfect…" It seemed like things went better inside the dream and there she got her second helping of whatever.

"W-What a frightening girl…" While looking terribly exhausted, Miyuki felt like her heart was about to leap out of her chest. She was extremely curious about the dream, but she already had a rough idea about what's going on there. Thinking about it, it only made things terribly complicated, though.

Tsukasa's feverish ramblings continued for a while and Miyuki started to calm down because nothings she was mumbling made sense anymore, but once more, Miyuki let down her guard to fast.

"… I love you, too… Yuki-chan…"

"W-Wha-?!" Miyuki, who was lying next to her on the bed, gasped and opened her eyes wide in surprise before she turned her head towards Tsukasa. She started at her for over a minute without blinking a single time, but no, she was still asleep. "W-Wait… 'too'?" She noticed something else and her face became even hotter than it already was. Unfortunately, Miyuki never got an answer because the sleeping beauty next to her, stopped her mumblings and thanks to that, the room fell silent.

Half an hour passed and this time Miyuki became best friends with the ceiling of her own room. It was the only thing she could look at for some time, but then her point of view changed to Tsukasa again, though, because she noticed a change. She started shivering and looked like she felt really cold. This only added things to Miyuki's pile of problems her mind was currently fighting. She remembered what Tsukasa did when she was cold. It really helped her and she was inclined to do the same, but hugging her right now was a high hurdle for Miyuki. Sadly, though, for many reasons, Tsukasa's shivering only increased, which left her no other choice. While biting her own lip, she slowly embraced the shaking body of Tsukasa and really hoped it would help because the mental damage she was taking right now was pretty high. Just when she was thinking that, Tsukasa's shivering actually instantly died down. Noticing this, Miyuki felt relieved and her earlier thoughts and concerns were blown away… "Haa… I want to read a book that features that kind of things as a reference…" While she felt like getting a headache, Miyuki closed her eyes and decided to rest a little as well.

….

While the only thing in the room that could be heard were sleeping sounds, it already got dark outside. Tsukasa woke up at some time and looked around. Miyuki had already left the bed again and was currently reading a different book than before on the nearby chair.

"Good… morning, Yuki-chan…"

"It's evening, Tsukasa-san."

"Oh, is it? Good evening then."

"Have you slept well?"

"Hmm… I think I had a nice dream, but… somehow… I think I feel too bad to be able to have a good sleep…"

"That's reasonable… A nice dream, you say?" Miyuki did her best to sound indifferent.

"Uh… I actually don't remember a thing what happened, but ehm… I'm somehow sure it was something great…"

"I-I see…" It wasn't the answer Miyuki was hoping for, but at least it didn't lead to something awkward now. At least, that was the positive thought she had for around two and a half seconds.

"Well, there's also something else that keeps me from sleeping well…"

"Hmm?"

"I'm feeling incredibly sweaty… I really want to take a hot bath…"

"O-Oh…" For some reason, shivers went down Miyuki's spine. "D-Do you think you're fit enough to do that, Tsukasa-san?" She was feeling rather conflicted on whether she should help her with taking a bath or not.

"No problem~." Tsukasa actually managed to leave the bed and was able to make two steps towards the door, but then she started to stagger and was about to fall over. Luckily, sort of, Miyuki was anticipating this already and managed to catch her in time.

"Are you hurt somewhere?" While holding Tsukasa in her arms, she made sure that she's fine.

"Ahaha… It looks like it is a problem, huh? Yuuuki-chan, I reeeaally want to take a bath, so… is it possible for you… Could you help me…?" Tsukasa, still resting in her arms, looked with upturned eyes while a single tear formed in one of them at her. Miyuki immediately turned her face away, but the damage was already taken and it was a critical hit.

"W-Wow…" She learned once more that Tsukasa's a really dangerous girl. Unable to turn her down even in normal circumstances, Miyuki could only give her a weak nod. "O-Okay… I'll accompany you…" Even though she had a really bad feeling about it, in the end, there was no helping it.

"Yay… thanks…" Tsukasa wrapped an arm around Miyuki's neck and with that support, she was able to stand up again.

"S-Sure…" While leaving her room, Miyuki quickly grabbed a couple pieces of clothing and the went to the bathroom together. Inside, Tsukasa faced Miyuki with an expectant look on her face.

"I don't think I can get rid of my clothes on my own, Yuki-chan…" To make her point clear, she weakly raised her arms and waited for Miyuki to continue.

"O-Okay…" She accepted her fate and while thinking about something entire else, Tsukasa's shirt, pants and underwear quickly ended up on the floor. After seeing the stark-naked girl in front of her, Miyuki froze for a couple seconds, but after a reboot of her systems, she quickly made her sit down on a stool and moved behind Tsukasa. While listing prime numbers in her mind, she started washing Tsukasa's hair and back. No matter how sick she was, those were still the only regions she would clean for her, though. After reaching the prime number 1021, Tsukasa finally finished washing herself and Miyuki helped her into the tub. Miyuki was finally able to take a breather because she thought it was over, but she forgot about the sheer danger of the other girl.

"Please join me, Yuuukiii-chaaan~…"

"N-No… nonono…!" Without looking at her, Miyuki strongly refused because her mind already couldn't take up with the received damage anymore.

"Pleeeaaaseee~."

"I really don't think…" Then, Miyuki made yet another mistake. To get her point across, she turned to face Tsukasa, but stopped in her tracks when she saw her. Tsukasa's wet hair, her feverish red face, and her upper body glistening from the water was too much for her. Gulping on reflex, Miyuki answered her before her brain could recover from the sight. "Okay…"

"Yay~." Tsukasa seemed happy and Miyuki slowly started undressing. Afterward, she washed herself and, although reluctantly, walked to the tub. Standing there for a couple moments, she was hesitating now, but because she started to feel cold, thanks to being naked, she entered the rather spacious tub and sat down at the opposite side of Tsukasa. Unsure where to look at, her eyes wandered around the room and with every glance she took, her facial color matched more and more the look of the feverish Tsukasa. She didn't understand why, but when she was in the hot spring with Tsukasa, it felt somehow different and way easier. On the outside, she may have looked perfectly calm even now, but on the inside, Miyuki was extremely happy that counting prime numbers was still working and she was glad that the book on self-restrained she was reading earlier proved to be of use. Tsukasa seemed to not have noticed anything of the inner turmoil of the girl in front of her, maybe thanks to the fever, but she was simply happy that she wasn't alone.

…..

20 embarrassing minutes full of conflict, for Miyuki, that is, passed and the two were back in her room. Both were sitting on the bed and Miyuki was currently drying Tsukasa's hair with great care. Soon after, Tsukasa laid down because she wanted to take another nap after feeling refreshed from the bath. Miyuki dried her own hair and then laid down across the foot end of the bed. Lying there, she was mentally completely finished and her physical condition wasn't much better. Thanks to everything she went through today, Miyuki felt like her cold started to return a little. While thinking about a lot of things, she took a peek of the sleeping Tsukasa and sighed another time. Unable to resist her charm, Miyuki gave up… on everything, stopped thinking, and simply joined Tsukasa's nap. She left from her position at the foot end, moved to Tsukasa's side and because she decided to not think anymore today, Miyuki hugged the girl next to her and easily fell asleep.

…..

Another complicated day ended and the one today was a rather special one. To give it a name, it's Christmas. Even after the slight relapse yesterday evening, Miyuki had finally completely recovered from the remains of her cold and Tsukasa, even if not perfectly healthy yet, was feeling a lot better. Both were awake already and doing nothing in particular until Tsukasa started yet another interesting and especially complicated question.

"By the way, Yuki-chan, what happened yesterday?"

"What do you mean by that?" Miyuki couldn't follow her.

"You see… Maybe it's due to the fever, but my memories of yesterday are rather hazy…"

"I see… yesterday, huh? Yesterday sure was interesting…" Her eyes suddenly seemed when she recalled the events.

"Eh?! W-What happened? D-Did I do something…?"

"Well… You forced me to strip you… and that was one of the least worrisome things you did…"

"W-What?" Tsukasa thought she misheard something borderline dangerous.

"You wanted to take a bath after all… I even had to wash you in the end and you also made me enter the tub with you…"

"Ohh~… You mean we took a bath together… Don't surprise me like that, Yuki-chan." She sighed in relief that it was just a misunderstanding, but suddenly stopped moving. "W-Wait… that really happened? I-It wasn't a dream…?" Facing reality, Tsukasa started to panic.

"No, _that_ wasn't a dream…"

"O-Oh… I'm very sorry for troubling you, so – why did you pronounce you -that- so differently?!"

"I… wonder…"

"Y-Yuki-chan?! W-What did I do?"

"Nothing much… you just mumbled some rather… deeply interesting, eye-opening, things in your sleep yesterday…" Seeing Miyuki's blush on her cheeks even without voicing details, Tsukasa knew that it was something embarrassing and started thinking.

"Now that you mention it… I did have some dream, but I really don't remember what hap-… Ah!" While sorting her thoughts, she suddenly made a full stop. Soon after, her own blush easily overshadowed Miyuki's. It seemed like she remembered her dream in full detail.

The atmosphere in the room became really awkward and the two were unable to look at each other. The room was completely silent for a while and they were just idly fidgeting until Miyuki couldn't bear the tension anymore and made a major topic change.

"H-Hey… Uhm… By the way, how are you feeling today? I assume you're better?" It was a weak attempt, but it was something.

"Y-Yes! I'm feeling relatively well, definitely way better than yesterday, but I guess it would be better if I stay today in the bed as well to be sure…"

"I agree, that's probably for the best." Miyuki agreed with her, but Tsukasa had a complicated expression on her face.

"Yuki-chan… I'm sorry for ruining Christmas… If I wouldn't have gotten your cold, we…"

"You haven't ruined anything. If you wouldn't have taken care of me, I'm sure my cold would still be as bad as it was two days ago. Besides, it was somehow pretty fun on its own…" Even though it was tiring and her mental well-being took great damage, she really enjoyed taking care of Tsukasa and being relied on by her. She also was really happy when Tsukasa did the same for her.

"Ehehe~, I also had fun…" Their chatting turned into something enjoyable and happy again.

"Oh… Right, Tsukasa-san, is it okay for you if I leave you alone for about half an hour?"

"Sure. What do you want to do, though?"

"That's a... secret." It being Christmas and all, Miyuki wanted to do at least something Christmassy and so she wanted to prepare a little surprise for Tsukasa.

"Aww… Well, I guess I'll take another nap then…"

….

It took a little longer than expected, but Miyuki had finished her errand and went back to her room. Inside, she found Tsukasa peacefully sleeping on her bed and seeing that, her cheeks instantly loosened up a little. Miyuki watched her sleeping face for a while and then decided to check her temperature. She placed her hand on Tsukasa's forehead and cheeks and it looked like her temperature went down a good bit, almost being normal again, but for some reason, Miyuki took her time and did a quite thorough job of taking her temperature. She even looked a little reluctant when she finally retracted her hand. Snapping back to reality afterward, she decided to let Tsukasa sleep in peace and Miyuki left the room again. Then, she grabbed her phone and called Konata.

 _\- "Oh my, a call from Miyuki herself, what a rare honor."_

"Good day, Konata-san, are you free right now?"

 _\- "Uh… Yeah, I can spare a couple minutes, I guess. What's going on? Oh, how's your cold?"_

"Thanks to Tsukasa-san, it's already all gone."

 _\- "Really~? She took great care of you, huh?"_

"Absolutely."

 _\- "Must've been nice having a cute girl nursing you back to health."_

"It really was nice."

 _\- "Uh… I-I see… No rebuttal, huh? W-Well, enough with the bragging, why did you call again?"_

"B-Bragging?! Right… I wanted to know if you have any easy to cook dishes that are fit for a recovering person that I could possibly cook…"

 _\- "I assume you're already past soup and porridge? Wait… Eh? I thought you were fine already and why would you cook for yourself in the first place when you have Tsukasa there?"_

"No, it is for Tsukasa… She's down with a cold for the last two days as well…"

 _\- "Tsukasa caught your cold, huh…? Ha… Ahahaha!"_

"W-What's so funny?"

 _\- "Nothing… A sick Tsukasa, huh? Last time I saw her like that, she was pretty adorable…"_

"Well… Yeah, but she's more dangerous than anything…"

 _\- "Eh?"_

"Huh?"

 _\- "What?"_

"A-Anyway… about the dish…"

 _\- "Uhh… Whatever… You could make an easy version of chicken rice."_

"How does it work?"

 _\- "You prepare the rice like usual, but you also add the chicken pieces, onions and seasonings in the rice cooker to let it all cook together at the same time. When it's finished, you just mix it and it's done. Oh, you can also add vegetable or mushrooms, but don't add too many extra things or the rice won't cook properly."_

"Oh, I think I can do that."

 _\- "I'm sure you can. I mean, even Kagamin~ only failed two times before she was able to do it."_

"I-I see… Thank you very much, Konata-san."

 _\- "No problem. Well then, have fun with Tsukasa. I'm going to be busy with Kagamin~ today, it's Christmas after all."_

"Y-Yes… Oh, I forgot, merry Christmas, Konata-san."

 _\- "To you as well."_

Their phone conversation ended and Miyuki went to the kitchen in order to do her best in recreating Konata's recipe.

Exactly following the instructions, the preparations soon finished and after the rice cooker did its magic for about an hour, the dish was done. Being satisfied with the finished product after tasting it, Miyuki started smiling to herself and put the chicken rice on two plates before placing it onto a tray and bringing it into her room.

"Ooh~, something smells good." Tsukasa had woken up some time ago and directly reacted to Miyuki who just entered.

"I tried to cook a little something for us because I thought you're probably hungry."

"I definitely am, thank you very much, Yuki-chan." She received a plate from her and directly tried some of it. "Oh, it's really good."

"The recipe's from Konata-san, but thanks, I'm glad to hear it."

"As expected from Kona-chan. But no, I couldn't have done it better myself, you're great, Yuki-chan."

"T-Thank you very much…" While Miyuki was feeling a bit embarrassed, the two finished eating their meal."

"Haa~, it really doesn't feel like Christmas at all today…" Tsukasa looked as little sad.

"I already told you to not mind it, Tsukasa-san… Right, do you think your stomach can handle desert?"

"Desert, huh? My stomach feels pretty good again already, it should be fine. Why?"

"Perfect. Please excuse me for a moment."

"S-Sure…" Tsukasa was a little surprised that Miyuki suddenly stood up and left the room without answering her question.

"Sorry for the wait." She was only gone for a couple minutes, but she came with both her hands holding something.

"Y-Yuki-chan, is that…?"

"Is it not good?"

"No, it's great! I'm really sad that I couldn't make one of my own this year, but this one also looks great!"

"I'm glad." In one hand, Miyuki was holding two new plates, but with the other one, she was carrying a small, but cute looking Christmas cake. It was a traditional sponge cake frosted with whipped cream and generously decorated with strawberries and chocolate. In the middle of said decoration, there also was a small Santa Claus entirely made from candy.

"Oh, is that why you left earlier?"

"Yes, there's a nice little bakery nearby and they make really tasty things."

"Don't the small bakeries normally only sell cakes on Christmas to those who preordered them beforehand?"

"A-Actually…" Miyuki awkwardly scratched her cheek. "A couple days ago, when you were in the kitchen, I called them and ordered one because… Well, I kind of saw the situation at hand coming…"

"Ahaha… I'm really no match for you, Yuki-chan. Sorry for the trouble again."

"That's my line… A-Anyway, shall we eat?" Miyuki cut the cake into equal pieces and handed a slice over to Tsukasa while placing one on a plate for her own.

"Ooh~, the cake's pretty good."

"Indeed, it's my favorite bakery after all. It can't compare to your sweets, Tsukasa-san, but it's a solid second place." Miyuki let out a pretty smooth line out of nowhere.

"Ehehe…" A bit embarrassed, Tsukasa smiled from ear to ear.

"I hope it restores the Christmas mood you were missing a little."

"Yes, it's great, I'm very happy that you did it, Yuki-chan."

"S-Speaking of which, do you perhaps know what Konata-san and Kagami-san have planned for today?"

"Not really, I only know they're spending the evening in Tokyo… It's probably something grand, though, because onee-chan was pretty excited all week long already."

"Too bad…"

"Well, we can always ask them next week when we're together for new year."

"That's true… No… Actually, let's not do that…"

"Ehh? Why not? I'm also curious about it, you know?" Tsukasa didn't understand the sudden change.

"W-Well… You see… Their presents for each other are surely something well thought out and sweet, but, on the other hand, me, I was totally uncreative…"

"Ah, that's what you mean… Don't worry, Yuki-chan, my present for you is way more boring anyway. I couldn't think of anything at all…"

"I don't think so. After all, I just wanted to go shopping for clothes with you and buy you something nice because you like to go shopping, don't you?"

"Ahaha!" Tsukasa suddenly started laughing.

"S-See?! It's really bad after all…"

"N-No, that's not it… I really like the idea… It's just… I wanted to do exactly the same… You just have to switch the word 'clothes' with something you like, like books for example."

"I-Is that so? It looks like we're both rather uncreative, huh?"

"It can't be helped. Also, spending a day shopping with Yuki-chan, even without getting bought something, is a perfect present in itself already."

"Does that mean we're going?"

"Of course! Once I'm recovered, we're directly going, Yuki-chan!"

"I'm looking forward to it then."

"Me too, I can't wait~." The two spent the rest of the evening with eating cake and planning their, well, shopping date in the near future.

A little more time passed and Tsukasa decided to go to sleep early in order to have a speedy recovery because she wanted to go shopping with her as soon as possible. Miyuki, not having anything better to do, simply went along with her idea. Tsukasa quickly left for the land of dreams once they got ready to sleep, but Miyuki was having yet another problem. The reason for it was simple, but it still took her some time to realize the root of her problem, even though it was rather obvious.

"W-Wait… Why are we in the same bed again?!" Up until now, every time they had a sleepover, one of them slept on a futon. That the two shared the bed the last few days was only an exception because they were sick. Now that both had recovered to at least the point where neither of them needed the warmth of the girl, the futon normally should've gotten back in the game. Yet, as if completely natural already, Miyuki and Tsukasa had simply entered the same bed without even thinking about it. "Well... It's not a bad change… It feels nice having someone you can sleep with… If you can manage to sleep, that is… Somehow, I'm way too nervous to be able to fall asleep…" Miyuki took a peek at the sleeping girl next to her, only the further increase the rate of her already fast beating heart. While her cheeks got dyed in a slight red hue, she continued her mumbling. "While I'm glad that she took care of me and I was happy that I could return the favor… It feels like things have gotten a whole lot more complicated… The things she said when she had a fever… including her dream… The things she did, including the whole bathing incident… How far do her feelings outside of being friends go? She more or less basically… c-confessed in her dream, did she not? How much of it was a feverish delusion and how much of it were her genuine thoughts…? Really… What a dangerous girl… How long will the relationship we currently have continue in the same manner? I honestly don't think…" Interrupted in the middle of it, Miyuki was unable to finish her sentence.

"Yuki-chan… sleep already~…" Completely unexpected, Tsukasa suddenly replied to her monolog. Afterward, she snuggled up to Miyuki and gently hugged her side without ever opening her eyes. At the same time, the room fell completely silent. For a while, Miyuki just stared at nothing in particular with an open mouth, but because the sudden turn of events shut down her brain, she slowly succumbed to the comfortable warmth of the girl next to her before finally falling asleep after a rough night.

* * *

.

The 200k words have finally fallen! Off to the 300k!

When one airhead takes care of another… You have to take care of the sugar intake for the rest of the day or loose a leg.

I hope nobody missed Kagami and Konata in this chapter. I wanted to briefly show their Christmas, but the chapter was already more than long enough already. I guess I'll do something in the next chapter about it. Well, I guess this chapter was cute enough even without them. If those two are pure vanilla, Miyuki and Tsukasa are extras sweet vanilla ice with vanilla sauce and vanilla flavored cream on top of it…

Well then, next time… Probably, not sure, though, new year and another, probably failing, attempt at getting closer to them becoming third years.

Lately, I had reread the Lucky Star manga… You know, I was kind of upset how often the author made the joke about the girls finding boyfriends… It somehow felt like it happened 3-5 time a volume… Well, whatever, that's not going to happen. :) I did it because I wanted inspirations for the extra cast and I really took a liking to Hiyori, I'm sure she can warrant a lot of funny situations, so she's sure to appear in the future chapters.

I'm currently creating a more detailed timeline for the main cast's third year with the things I already have planned. There are quite a few holes which I'm currently trying to fill. Because of that, the next chapter probably has to wait a little longer than usual… There's also the thing that I really want to rewrite the first chapters because I'm really not happy with them. Not content wise, but rather how I wrote them. I'm not saying my current style is 'good', but I think it's way better than it was back then. (Always just 'Konata said, Kagami said' instead of actually describing things…) Not sure if I actually do it, though, but this also could delay things.


	30. A different than planned New Year

Roughly a week since Christmas passed and the year was about to end. The girls had planned to make the obligatory shrine visit on New Year's Eve together, but that idea proved to be too much on that day. The twins were helping from sunrise to evening at their own shrine because their older sisters, Inori and Matsuri, couldn't help until late, but once they arrived, Kagami and Tsukasa instantly, totally not out of revenge for leaving them alone, left the shrine to them.

Tsukasa headed home first, but Kagami immediately took the shortest route towards Konata's house. Normally, she obviously would've wanted to get rid of her shrine maiden clothes first, but she was too exhausted from running all over the place all day long and so, a coat to hide the clothes was enough for the time being because she wanted to get comforted by Konata as soon as possible. Arriving at Konata's house, she directly went upstairs and entered the girl's room without any care at all. Inside, not even looking at the destination, Kagami instantly crashed face first into the bed.

"I hofsh fou're Fagamin~…" Feeling the impact on her bed, Konata started mumbling into her pillow without turning her head to confirm whether it really is Kagami or not. Yes, she was also lying on her bed and both were rather lucky that Kagami didn't crash down on top of her earlier.

"Yesh~." The mumble was answered by another mumble.

"That's good… Hmmm?" Konata finally turned her head, but then furrowed her brows while checking the girl out.

"W-What's wrong?"

"Good job!" She suddenly gave Kagami a thumbs up out of nowhere. "Out of all the Miko cosplays I saw today, you're definitely the best. Very authentic looking."

"Thanks… I'm the real deal after all…" Kagami took the 'compliment' without thinking at first, but then had a couple complaints. "Don't call it cosplay! Wait, just how many Mikos have you seen today, Kona?!"

"Uhh… About 50, I guess…?"

"That place's as crazy as usual, huh?"

"You mean as -great- as usual, right?"

"Sure, whatever…" Kagami was too exhausted for that.

"Yes, Comiket was great as usual." Konata had spent the entire day at the Comiket, looking at cosplayers and spending an unholy amount of money on her hobby. However, running from one stand to another while caring a tree worth of books, even managed to exhaust the surprisingly sporty Konata and so, that's the reason why she's lying on her bed half dead when Kagami arrived at her place.

"Just how much did you buy?"

"Everything."

"E-Everything?"

"Just kidding~."

"I see, that's good, but please don't make such believable jokes. So, how much?"

"Damn, that didn't avert her attention… Well… Let's just say quite a lot, but don't worry, my father was in a good mood and paid for the most…"

"I'm not sure if that makes it any better… Not to even mentioning the two of you buying these things in the first place… By the way, speaking of which, where is your father? I haven't seen him earlier."

"Uhh… He's either dead or writhing in pain in his room…"

"That bad, huh?"

"Well, he isn't the youngest anymore. I guess I'll have to abduct Kagamin~ the next time again."

"I wonder about that."

"Oh, now that we're at it, I found a really good manga author. You should take a look later."

"First, what's the age rating of them, miss second-year high school student?"

"Ehm… V-Various…?"

"Ranging from?"

"All ages to… something… slightly… not so…"

"Kona~?"

"I-It's fine… Everything's yuri and it's nothing we… Actually, nevermind that..." For some reason, Konata's cheeks suddenly developed a red tint when she turned her head away. "A-Anyway… the girl who made then is actually two years younger than us from what she told me… So… it should be fine."

"Haa… I'm not sure where to even start…" There were many things for Kagami to retort to, but somehow, her curiosity got the better of her when she saw Konata getting embarrassed. "W-Well, maybe I'll take a quick glance later on, if it makes you happy…"

"Great!"

"Not now, though, Kona. I just want to lie down and do nothing for a while…"

"No objections here."

…..

And so, for the next 30 minutes, the two motionlessly passed the time on Konata's bed and recovered a bit from their exhaustion that got accumulated throughout the day.

Then, at some point, the door opened and an also very exhausted looking Tsukasa staggered into the room. Kagami had emailed her earlier that she should come to over and that the front door's open.

"Hey… Onee-chan… Kona-chan…" Tsukasa saw the two relaxing on the bed and without any warning, she decided to join and let herself fall down between the two.

"Good work earlier, sis." Even though her quality cuddle time with Konata was over, Kagami didn't mind the extra person much and she just made a little room for her by moving a bit.

"… N. You as well, onee-chan…"

"Good girl~." Konata had already accepted Tsukasa as something like a little sister and so she had no problem with her forcing her way between them on the bed. Because Tsukasa is someone you just want to spoil no matter the occasion, Konata simply started patting her head as to say that she did well today.

"Ehehe~." Feeling happy, she pulled the two girls next to her closer and let out a comfortable sigh afterward.

"It can't be helped~." Letting Tsukasa have her will, Kagami and Konata started cuddling with her a little while thinking that it's pretty understandable why Miyuki is so fond of her and especially why she can't say no to Tsukasa. There was a time when Kagami was even jealous towards her little sister when it comes to Konata, but those times are long over. She could tell pretty well when Konata had hidden motives just by looking at her, but right now, while she's being affectionate with her little sister, all she could see was familiarly love and so, there was no danger at all for her. Letting her guard down towards her sister and Konata was no problem at all. Her older sisters are a different topic, though. Not because of Konata, she trusted her, but because Inori and Matsuri are a little dangerous or, rather, they like teasing Kagami way too much.

"It would be nice if Yuki-chan could be here already as well…" Even though she was currently being healed already, Tsukasa still felt like there was something important missing.

"Heh~." Two girls immediately started grinning.

"W-What?"

"Nothing~."

"So you prefer cuddling with Miyuki, huh?" Even though Konata was in a good mood, a good chance for teasing is a good chance for teasing. While thinking so, she faked a sad voice.

"…"

"Just kidding~… Wait, you didn't answer, did you?!" She immediately wanted to let her off the hook, but Konata became a little dumbfounded at the reaction of Tsukasa.

"I-It wasn't on purpose! I-It's not like…"

"Stop right there! Tsukasa, being tsun doesn't fit you at all. That's more the job of…"

"I'll hit you if you continue, Kona."

"See what I mean? That's more like it~."

"Urgh…" Kagami directly walked into the trap."

"B-But…" Tsukasa wanted to complain that it wasn't she meant, even though it was exactly what she meant, but just in that moment, the door of Konata's room opened once more.

"Good evening to-… Ehm… W-What's going on here…?" Miyuki entered the room and while greeting the girls, she wasn't sure how to react at the sight in front of her because she saw three girls lying on the bed cuddling with each other. More precisely, she saw an embarrassed looking Tsukasa sandwiched between a moody Kagami and a happy looking Konata. It was rather hard for her not to misunderstand something.

"Yuuuukiiii-chaaaan!" Tsukasa immediately stood up and leaped into her arms. Not understanding what's going, she just reflexively returned to hug for the time being while receiving warm gazes from the girls on the bed. "Kona-chan's teasing me again!"

"Now, now…" Tsukasa's head was patted for the second time today. "What did she do?"

"She… She… uhm…" She started to remember to whom she was complaining to right now and became unable to continue. "A-Actually, nevermind…"

"Is that so?"

"Y-Yes!" Tsukasa separated from her again and looked even more embarrassed than before. The gazes she saw coming from her sister and Konata didn't help at all.

"W-What is going on with Tsukasa-san?" Miyuki looked in the direction of Konata and Kagami.

"Who knows~."

"I wonder~." Sadly, those two were having too much fun to be of any help.

"Okay…" She had the suspicion they know perfectly well, but she also knows them well enough that it's no use to continue here. "By the way, what was that situation earlier? I mean, you three cuddling on the bed." Something felt off all of the sudden. Somehow, Miyuki was still smiling, but her eyes had a different expression.

"T-That… Recovering from exhaustion, I guess…?"

"I see… Well, I'm also pretty tired myself because I played with my younger relatives all day, but… How does that end up in a three-way cuddling?" Her eyes still weren't smiling.

"Ehm… B-Because she's cuddly?" Konata had no idea what was wrong, but she was feeling a little scared at the moment and answered with something rather stupid.

"Oh~. That's what you mean? Yes, that makes sense." After hearing the, for her, perfectly reasonable excuse, Miyuki's eyes became gentle again.

"R-Really?" Even Konata herself wasn't satisfied with her answer, but she surely wasn't going to argue here. Furthermore, the readiness of Miyuki to agree with Tsukasa's cuddliness caused her to start a change of topic while grinning again. "Ah, now that I remember, Miyuki, Tsukasa, how was your Christmas? I heard a couple things, but I'm rea~ly interested in the whole story."

"H-Huh?! T-That's…" The surprised girls in question shortly looked at each other in bewilderment before they looked away again while starting to blush. Seeing this reaction, Konata instantly moved to the corner of her bed and sat down in a cross-legged position there. Kagami, equally interested, quickly followed suit. With an expectant expression, the two looked Miyuki and Tsukasa.

"Well then, we're listening~."

"I-It was pretty boring, you know…? We were both sick after all…"

"Yes… Yes! N-Nothing interesting at all happened!" Tsukasa strongly agreed, but nobody believed them.

"Heh~?"

"A-Absolutely… Nothing of importance that would be worth mentioning!"

"M-More importantly… What did you and onee-chan do on Christmas, K-Kona-chan? We also were pretty curious about that."

"Ahaha, changing the topic, huh? That's my specialty, you know? Very well, I'm in a good mood, so why not? Let's put your Christmas aside… _for now._ "

"T-Thank you very much, Kona-chan."

"You're really not good at this… Well, whatever… our Christmas, huh? We spent most of the evening in the city."

"Kona had made a reservation in a restaurant for us back in October already and so we dressed up a little while having a nice evening."

"Aww~." Tsukasa's eyes were shining.

"Afterward, we simply strolled through the city. Tokyo at night around Christmas is really amazing. It was like a sea of colorful lights and everything was shining. It was really romantic just wandering around and peacefully looking at everything."

"Best of all, because there were couples all over the place, we could flirt all we want with each other because no one bat an eye at two girls being affectionate other~." That was an important detail for Konata.

"Y-Yes…" Kagami blushed a little. "Well, after it had gotten late, we simply grabbed a Christmas cake at the next best bakery that was still open and we headed back to Kona's place."

"Guess whose spontaneous idea it was to buy a cake~? Back at home, we… we, ehm…" Konata suddenly started to choke on her own words because the rest of the night was a little difficult to explain and she obviously had to omit some details. "Well, yes, we ate the cake and… went to bed?" The end sounded more like a question as she looked at Kagami to find out whether she'll get punished now or not.

"I think need to train the end a little more, Kona."

"Yes…" It looks like she at least narrowly escaped death.

"Wow~, that sounds so nice…" Tsukasa was clearly envious.

"What were your presents for each other, Kagami-san, Konata-san?"

"Presents, huh? Yeah, Kagami definitely won this time… Here~." Konata rolled back the sleeve of her left arm and a silvery bracelet with a couple charms attached to it became visible.

"So cute!" Tsukasa immediately moved closer and took a better look at it. "What are those symbols on the charms?"

"Those are anime logos."

"Really? I never would've guessed that."

"Exactly that was my intention, sis. I wanted to get something that Kona likes, but doesn't embarrass me when she wears it…"

"That's why closet otakus are such a handful…"

"I'm not an otaku!" Kagami obviously didn't like Konata's accusation.

"And why is every single anime on those charms based on a light novel you are reading, Kagamin~?"

"T-That's just a coincidence!"

"And that's why closet otakus are so…"

"Shut up already!"

"Tehe~."

"O-Onee-chan, what did you get from Kona-chan?"

"Right…" She sighed after her loss and then started to fiddle with something on her neck. The necklace she got from Konata on her birthday came into view, but something was different. Next to the original flower pendant, there was now also a small heart in the same silver and light gold color. On the heart was the letter 'K' from the Latin alphabet engraved.

"Oh~, that's also really cute! What does the 'K' mean, Kona-chan?"

"That's actually pretty clever, if I may say so myself. Both, Kagamin~'s and my name start with the same Latin letter. That means, depending on who asks about it, it could either mean Kagami, Konata, or both."

"Heh~."

"That's pretty well thought out, Konata-san." Tsukasa and Miyuki looked impressed."

"Yeah, Kona's sometimes pretty good at that kind of things."

"I always am!"

"Occasionally."

"Most of the time…"

"So-so."

"More than often enough!"

"Let's just say it's a surprisingly high amount, Kona."

"That's just a nice sounding insult, isn't it?"

"…"

"Oi!" The two were momentarily lost in their own world when Tsukasa said something again.

"You were right, Yuki-chan, we didn't just lose, we got completely outclassed…"

"Hmm? Oh, yes, you're right…"

"What's this about~?" Konata sensed something delicious.

"It's just that your Christmas and your gifts are so much more thought out than ours…"

"Interesting~." She once more started to grin today. "Well, it's not like our relationships are the same, right~? Why do you want to compare us anyway~? Kagami and I obviously put more effort into it because we love each other. Makes sense, right~?"

"Y-You're probably right there…"

"What did you give each other as a present, sis?" Kagami tried to calm down Konata a bit by joining the… interrogation.

"We… We just went shopping together when we recovered from our colds and bought each other something nice in the end…"

"Oh? That sounds way better than you're describing it. A shopping date, huh? Kind of romantic even, if you ask me. Hey, Kona, let's do that as well on the next weekend." Kagami took a liking to the idea and directly started making plans with Konata. Unintentionally, her idea to 'help' inflicted more damage than Konata could ever hope to achieve.

"Sure~." Konata came closer and whispered something into her ear. "Let's go cosplay shopping."

"I'm serious here, Kona."

"Do you think I'm not?" Her eyes definitely looked serious.

"Come on, let's just make this a normal date and do _that_ next time, okay?"

"Yes!" Konata actually got a positive reaction out of her proposal and so she had no problem with waiting for it a little. Meanwhile, the damage Kagami inflicted before finally reached the couple.

"D-Date?!"

"R-Romantic?!" While Konata and Kagami were merrily planning their date, two girls were a bit lost. Tsukasa and Miyuki had just noticed that they had basically asked each other out on a date as their Christmas present and became incredibly embarrassed after glancing at each other.

"It wasn't supposed to be a date?" Konata noticed the awkward atmosphere around the two and after looking at Kagami, she noticed that she wasn't the only one who was having quite a lot of fun right now.

"Even though it was such a romantic idea?" Kagami finished them off. The room fell silent and while two girls were grinning at each other, the other two couldn't even look at each other.

"Well then, Kagamin~, let's go and prepare dinner in the kitchen."

"Sure." Noticing her intention to leave the two alone, Kagami quickly stood up and followed her.

Preparing dinner was a bit of a stretch, though. When Konata and her dad were on their way back from the Comiket, she had already decided that she's not going to visit the shrine and to invite the girls to her place. Konata also didn't want to cook today and so she made her father buy sushi for everyone. The reason she wanted to go to the kitchen with Kagami obviously was something different.

"Something definitely happened at their Christmas…"

"No doubt about it."

"They're so obvious~… Wait… D-Don't tell me we were like them?!"

"D-Don't remind me of our dark past, Kona!"

"Y-Yeah…" Konata accidentally opened old wounds and the two were writhing in pain from the inflicted mental damage.

"W-Well, I really do wonder what happened between Miyuki and my sister, though."

"You know, in manga, having a cold usually leads to all sorts of events and raises a ton of flags. The two both having a cold even doubled that…"

"Kona, life isn't a manga."

"Yeah…" She actually sounded a bit sad." The two finished the 'preparation' of the food and called the other two to the living room.

Dinner went by peacefully and the girls were chatting like usual again. It looks like Miyuki and Tsukasa had recovered from earlier and the two, especially Konata, decided to leave them be for the time being.

There were still a few hours left until midnight and because of that, they decided to kill some time in the living room until the old year ends. Unfortunately, their exhaustion from the day had finally caught up with them again. The next thing Kagami realized was that it was almost 6 in the morning of the next day. It looks like they had fallen asleep and totally missed the change of the year.

"Hey girls, wake up! We totally overslept! It's already New Year!"

"Just five more minutes… onee-chan… Wait, what was that?!" Tsukasa first said the usual when her sister tries to wake her up, but then registered what she said."

"'Morning, Kagamin~… Oh, you're right, it really is morning… Well then, good night, I'll sleep for another five to seven hours…" Being totally uninterested in the drama, she turned around on the sofa she was sleeping on and closed her eyes again.

"Stop right there, Kona! Now that we're awake already, let's all go see the first sunrise of the year at least."

"But it's sooo cold outside…"

"Kona~."

"Fine…"

"Great! You two are coming as well, right?" Kagami was happy that Konata agreed and directly turned to ask Miyuki and Tsukasa.

"I'm in, onee-chan!"

"Me as well, it would be too much of a waste to not do at least this now."

…

The girls got dressed and left Konata's house. After a bit of walking, they arrived at a nearby park, which was located at a slightly higher location than the rest of the neighborhood for a better view. Konata and Kagami sat down on a bench and directly started cuddling with each other. It was cold after all, according to their excuse. Miyuki and Tsukasa, on the other hand, started to explore the park a bit because it's their first time being there. After a short while, though, they also sat down on a bench slightly in front of the couple.

15 minutes passed and the girls noticed that the sun finally started to rise and focused on the horizon.

"So beautiful~." Tsukasa muttered while watching the spectacle in front of her.

"Indeed." Miyuki agreed with her. Kagami and Konata were busier with themselves, rather than admire the sunrise.

"Well then, happy New Year, Kagamin~, I hope the following year will be as great as the last one and we'll spend a lot of time together."

"Kona…" She was touched by her nice words. "Happy New Year to you as well. I feel the same way and, yes, we will spend a lot of time together. Whether you want or not, though."

"Eh?" Konata had a bad feeling after hearing her wording.

"Somewhere around summer, at last, we'll start studying for college together because I'll get both of us into a good one."

"B-But…"

"There is no but. Period."

"I-I see…"

"Well, you could break up to get out of it, but…"

"College, huh? I'm so not looking forward to it, but if you give me no choice other than to go to one…" She didn't even let Kagami finish her sentence before accepting her unchangeable fate.

"That's the answer I wanted to hear"

"Ehehe." For a while, the two just wordlessly looked into each other's eyes. Then, they brought their faces closer and shared their first kiss of the year. Their lips stayed connected for a considerable amount of time and the kiss was full of passion. When the two finally parted, they lovingly looked at each other and immediately shared another kiss. With her cheeks dyed in red, Konata spoke up after a while. "The first out of many, right?"

"An uncountable amount, yes."

"O look forward to every single one, Kagamin~."

"Me as well. It'll be a good year."

"Undoubtedly." The leaned onto each other while holding hands again and finally decided to look at the scenery. What they saw was unexpected, though. Completely ignoring the sunrise, even though it was her idea, Kagami and Konata's eyes were glued on Miyuki and Tsukasa. There was a pink aura radiating from them that couldn't be ignored. The two hadn't noticed that it didn't even reach 4% of the pink space they had created before, but this didn't matter right now. Judging by their heads from behind, the two were still watching the sunrise, but Kagami noticed something interesting.

"Hey, Kona, is it just me or are they… holding hands?"

"Huh? Wait… You're right, they are holding hands. Heh~." The couple continued to watch them, rather than the sunrise, with warm gazes and without saying anything. They were pretty interested and had tons of question, but disturbing the good of them could almost be counted as a crime.

About 10 perfectly harmonic minutes passed, but Konata slowly, but finally, had enough of being outside.

"Hey girls, let's head back for now. I'm super cold and also still pretty tired." She really wanted to crawl into her bed and Kagami felt similar as she gave her a big nod. Miyuki and Tsukasa just flinched at the sudden voice. It looks like they were lost in their own world until now. After coming back to reality, they realized they were holding hands and quickly separated again.

"Y-Yes, i-it indeed is quite c-cold…"

"Y-Yeah, I-I also want to sleep a little more, K-Kona-chan…" The two were more than just embarrassed.

The group left the park and went back. Inside the house again, they directly went to Konata's room.

Even though it was already bright outside by now, the four all agreed that they wanted to sleep a little more. Konata spread two futons for Miyuki and Tsukasa on the floor and then joined Kagami, who was naturally and without even thinking about, already waiting in her bed. Tsukasa and Miyuki looked a bit envious for a second, but it didn't look like anyone had noticed. Konata switched off the light and everyone felt more or less quickly asleep.

….

The next morning, or rather, a little after noon. After waking up, Konata was greeted by something extremely familiar. Just like every single time when one of them slept over at the other's place, she was splendidly used as a hug pillow by Kagami. Enjoying the situation, as usual, Konata started kissing her until she started to wake up.

"'Morning…" Kagami returned the last kiss and then slowly opened her eyes.

"Good morning~." Konata seemed to be in a good mood and started another attack after the first was so well received and began to kiss Kagami's neck.

"Mhh~." She also was in a good mood and returned the attack by climbing on top of Konata. She was about to go on the offensive herself as she moved her head already when she heard a rustling from the side and completely froze up.

"What's wrong, Kagamin~, you can't just stop there…"

"K-K-Kona!" She awkwardly pointed into the room. "R-Remember?! We aren't alone…"

"Eh?! Oh… Right… Great…" Konata's face was the textbook example of disappointment. Kagami got off her again and Konata moved to the edge of her bed in order to give the two, who disturbed them, a glare from hell itself. Because they got interrupted before they got to the good part, her mood had hit rock bottom. Finally seeing the two on the floor washed away her anger, though, because she saw something too sweet to stay angry.

"Well, well, look at this~."

"Hmm? … Oh~." The two looked at the sleeping Miyuki and Tsukasa next to their bed. The reason they were surprised was because of one futon was empty. Tsukasa had made her way into Miyuki's and was peacefully sleeping right next to her while clinging to her arm.

"They're still at the friends phase… right?"

"Uhh… It should be so, but… I'm not so sure anymore…" The two were wondering what's up with the pseudo-couple.

"Should we wait until they wake up and look if they also jump at each other?"

"Yeah… Let's not."

"Aww…" Konata thought it was a nice idea, but, in the next moment, her expectations got shattered anyway. Miyuki and Tsukasa started to wake up and after noticing what was going on, Tsukasa almost jumped back into her own futon. While carefully trying not to look at Miyuki. Tsukasa's eyes wandered around the room and accidentally looked at the bed.

"Good morning~." Konata and Kagami were grinning from ear to ear.

"W-What's wrong, K-Kona-chan, o-onee-chan?"

"Nothing~." As usual, the two were in perfect sync.

"I-Is that so?"

"So, now that everyone's awake, how does breakfast sounds? Wait… How does lunch sounds?" Konata quickly corrected herself after looking at the clock. "Hey, Tsukasa, can you help me preparing?"

"H-Huh?! Oh, sure…"

"Kona, let me help, Tsukasa's a guest, after all, you know?"

"Kagamin~, technically, you're also a guest… I know one could easily forget that fact and I more than welcome you to move in, but… anyway, I'm going to let Tsukasa help me, okay?" Konata gave her a wink and then dragged Tsukasa out of the room."

"O-Okay…" Kagami actually forgot for a moment that she's a guest, but after seeing Konata's wink, she understood that Tsukasa _help_ her wasn't her plan in the first place.

…..

The two arrived at the kitchen and started preparing until Tsukasa noticed something.

"Ehm, Kona-chan, what are we making?"

"Now that you mention it… Good question…" Konata started thinking. "Okay, let's go with fried noodles!"

"You just decided?"

"Yeah… Well, it's not like I wanted to bring you her because I wanted to cook with you in the first place…" When she said so, Konata moved to the kitchen table and set down. "Let's have a little chat, Tsukasa~." She pointed at the seat across the table and start to rest her chin in her hands while having a smile on her face.

"E-Eh?" She had a really bad feeling, but unable to get out of it, she sat down.

"Hehe." Konata just stared at her while occasionally giggling to herself for a while.

"W-What's wrong, K-Kona-chan? Is there anything you want?"

"You know perfectly well what I want. What I want to know, that is."

"Au… I-It's about Christmas, r-right?"

"Right on the first try, good girl. Now come on and tell onee-chan everything~."

"…" The tension was suddenly gone.

"P-Please be so kind and do me a favor and forget about that, Tsukasa-san!" Konata immediately became embarrassed and suddenly even used polite speech. "I-I kind of wanted to say that line, but hearing it, it's super embarrassing…" She does see her as a little sister and Tsukasa is happy that she thinks so, but that line was a bit much, even for her.

"I-It's okay, Kona-chan, d-don't mind it… I-It wasn't that bad and I'm even a little happy… A-Anyway, fine, I'll tell you…" Somehow or another did Konata's inability to stay serious wash away the tension and Tsukasa decided to let her know what happened. It was totally not out of pity or anything.

"T-Thanks for not minding it…"

"Well… as you know, I went to Yuki-chan's place before Christmas to help her get over her cold."

"Yes."

"There, things kind of… got out of hand a little…"

"Hoh~?" Her eyes started to sparkle.

"It started harmless with nursing by feeding her or wiping the sweat from her body…"

"Harmless, huh? … Okay…"

"But it soon became a bit weird when we first slept together…"

"…" Konata just blinked a couple times with a frightening speed without saying a word.

"What's wrong?"

"No, I'm sorry, I think I misheard you just now… Did you say you s-slept together?"

"Yes."

-BAM- Konata's chin slid away from the palm of her hand where she was resting her head on until now and her whole face energetically hit the table with an enormous force accompanied by a loud sound. "W-W-What?!"

"K-Kona-chan?! Are you okay?" She became worried about her after seeing the 'accident'.

"I-I'm fine…"

"Puh, that's good. Anyway, then…"

"Wait, wait, WAIT! Don't just -anyway- me now! Y-You two slept together?!"

"Uh… Well, she was feeling cold and so I thought body warmth would help. Because of that, I climbed into her bed and we both slept until the next day…"

 **-BAM!-** Konata, who had just recovered from her faceplant, hit the table again with a force that wasn't even comparable to earlier.

"K-K-Kona-chan?!"

"P-Please don't look at me… I'm just filth, no, that's insulting the filth…" Even though the misunderstanding was perfectly reasonable, she still felt incredibly guilty from her dirty thoughts because Tsukasa was way too innocent right now. Even looking at her was too bright for Konata. "W-What happened then?"

"Uhh…" Tsukasa had a hard time ignoring what happened just now, but still continued. "Well… I started to get sick as well and when my fever was really bad… I had a dream…"

"A dream?"

"Yes… As far as I remember… Yuki-chan and I were a c-couple and… uh…" Her cheeks suddenly started to burn up and Konata was finally able to look at her because the 'innocence aura' died down a little. "Ehm… I ended up saying that I loved her and, unfortunately… I was sleep talking and it looks like Yuki-chan heard it… Oh! We also took a bath together where she washed me and always slept together the next couple days…"

"Okay… I see…" She had a blank look on her face. Kagami said before that the life wasn't a manga and she was right because it had already way passed the realms of manga. "W-Where should I start…?" There were so many things to retort to that Konata had trouble deciding on something. "Y-You two had quite the Christmas, huh?"

"It wasn't boring…"

"What are you planning to do now?"

"Kona-chan… there's more…"

"Even more?!"

"Rather, you noticed our awkwardness, right?"

"Ehm, yes… and I can understand why now… Kagamin~ and I had a similar phase."

"no, Kona-chan, the reason for it has yet to come…"

"W-What?! That was already more than enough of a reason… Kagamin~ and I were worse after less happened…"

"I'm sorry…"

"W-Why are you apologizing?!"

"I just felt like I had to do it…"

"I somehow feel like I have lost to something right now… Anyway, so, what is the real reason?"

"You see… It seems like Yuki-chan likes to have monologues when I'm asleep… Or at least when she thinks I'm asleep…"

"My déjà-vu senses are tingling… Eh?!" Konata remembered the time when she was only half asleep and overheard Kagami talking and while remembering, she started to think about if maybe the same happened when she thought Kagami was asleep while thinking out loud. "W-Whatever… What did she say?"

"S-She said that I'm a j-jackpot and a really l-lovable girl and that she's missing out on something if our relationship stays's the same…"

"Wah~, Miyuki, so bold~. Well, I wholeheartedly agree with her, though. She can be happy that I already have my Kagamin~."

"K-Kona-chan!" Tsukasa was already embarrassed enough and hearing Konata complimenting her so so open like that, only heated up her face even more.

"What? I'm just being honest."

"S-Stop that…"

"Embarrassed Tsukasa… N~, pretty cute. Almost as cute as Kagamin~ herself when being flustered. I wonder how Miyuki would react when seeing you like that~."

"C-Can I continue now?"

"Sure~. Huh? What? There's more? You two sure are something else…"

"Somehow, I really don't want to hear that from you, Kona-chan…"

"Fair enough, continue."

"The same thing happened again a few days later…"

"Tsukasa, eavesdropping on people is not nice, you know?" She looked with cold eyes at her.

"I-It wasn't on purpose!"

"Hehe." Konata was only playing with her. "What did she say this time?"

"She was wondering why we were sleeping in the same bed again, even though both of us had basically recovered from our colds already…"

"Because you wanted to, right?"

"Exactly…"

"I totally understand you, sharing a bed with someone is the best thing ever."

"Yuki-chan said something similar… Then, she thought about my feelings outside of being friends for her… At last, she wondered how long our relationship will last like this. When she was about to answer herself, I interrupted her."

"How?"

"I panicked and pretended to sleep talk by telling her to sleep already before hugging her…"

"Poor Miyuki…" Konata had a good idea how she was feeling at that moment.

"E-Eh?"

"Nah, I probably would've reacted exactly the same as you did… Actually… I think I did something rather similar a couple of times… Haa…" Konata first felt sorry for Miyuki, but it quickly changed into sympathy for Tsukasa and ended up into self-loathing.

"O-Okay…"

"So, the big question, how 'far' do your feelings outside of being friends go?"

"T-That's… complicated…"

"Complicated, huh? Miyuki obviously loves you, though."

"…" Tsukasa was unable to answer.

"We both know that you're already aware of it. Rather, it's impossible not to be after the Christmas you two had."

"I'm not sure if it's fully l-love, but yes, I realized…"

"No, it's love in its purest form." There was no doubt about it.

"I-I see…"

"You love her as well, don't you, Tsukasa?"

"That's… I know it's more than friendship I feel, but…"

"Do you like being with her?"

"Of course!"

"More than with everyone else?"

"Yes."

"More than with your own twin sister?"

"Yes… I'm sorry, onee-chan…"

"What do you enjoy the most when being with her?"

"Everything."

"What would think when another person gets as close as you to Miyuki?"

"Nothing, I simply wouldn't let that happen."

"W-Wow…" Konata wasn't expecting this kind of answer. "E-Ehm… That means you want to be the only special person for Miyuki and want her all for you alone?"

"Absolutely."

"Okay… Well, this could go on for quite a while and so let's skip a bit. How do you feel when you think about Miyuki?"

"Hmm… Warm and… fuzzy?"

"Tsukasa?"

"Y-Yes?"

"You love her."

"I-I really do?"

"No doubt whatsoever."

"…" She became speechless with a complex expression on her face.

"The important question now is what you want to do with that information…"

"What I want to do…"

"Exactly."

"What I want to do…" Tsukasa repeated her statement without even minding Konata. She absentmindedly stared at nothing in particular, while being lost in thought for a couple minutes.

"Oi~! Tsukasa~!"

"H-Huh?" She snapped back from her trance.

"What are you thinking so hard about?"

"Well, it's not that easy, Kona-chan…"

"What's not easy?"

"That's…"

"You love each other and Miyuki wants to be together with you. It couldn't be easier, you know?"

"But… But what should I… do?"

"A wise person once said to me; 'Just kiss her.'" Konata recalled the advice Kuroi-sensei gave her back when she told her about her situation.

"Ah!" Tsukasa's face became even redder and she instantly looked away.

"…" Konata couldn't believe her eyes and blinked a few times.

"…" Not a single word came out.

"Tsukasa-san? What might be the reaction mean you're showing me right now? I can't help but wonder about it, Tsukasa-san." She started using polite speech again.

"Y-You see…"

"I see what? Don't tell me you two already…"

"W-Well…"

"Those kids these days… wow…"

"A-Aren't we the same age?"

"When? How? Why?"

"K-Kona-chan, first, it was only on the cheek, you know?"

"Haa~, don't scare me like that! Then again, isn't that already pretty amazing?"

"Yes…" Tsukasa touched her lips and cheeks while recalling the sensation. When thinking that 'amazing' is a good word to describe it, she showed an incredibly goofy grin.

"I don't really need to ask after looking at you, but how was it?" Konata had a pretty good idea on how much she liked it.

"Ehehe~." That was the only answer she could give.

"I see… Well then, go and get her, girl."

"I'm not sure… Can't I keep progressing it as slow as it went to this point?"

"Haa… That's why today's youth is so hopeless…"

"We're still the same age, Kona-chan!"

"Aren't you worried she might get stolen away if you take too long."

"Not at all."

"Quite the confidence you have. Why is that so?"

"Because it simply won't happen."

"Why?"

"Because _I_ wouldn't let it happen."

"R-Really?"

"Yes. Not a chance."

"T-That's… You actually were serious earlier…" For some reason, Konata had goosebumps and the room actually felt rather chilly.

"Why are _all_ the girls of the Hiiragi household so scary? Poor Tadao-san… Next time I visit them, I'll bring a present for him…" She muttered her condolences while feeling deep sympathy for the only male in the house.

"Hmm?" Tsukasa didn't understand.

"W-Why don't you just go upstairs and make her yours again?" Konata decided to ignore her question.

"Okay… I do admit now that I absolutely l-love Yuki-chan and I want to have the same you and onee-chan have, but… I'm happy how our relationship slowly progressed into what we're having now. I somehow don't want to miss out on something by jumping straight to the finish line, you know?"

"Even though the finish line is basically right in front of you after running a full marathon?"

"I think there are still lots of things I can experience with Yuki-chan until we get together, don't you agree, Kona-chan?"

"Well… You know, between realizing that I love Kagamin~ and us getting together, there was mostly awkwardness and suffering. When we got together, though… Oh~. Then again, I think I can understand your point. It does sound kind of sweet without all the negative aspects we had. If it works with you, I won't stop you. Do how you think it's best."

"Thank you, Kona-chan."

"More importantly~."

"More importantly?"

"Please stand up." Konata stood up and urged Tsukasa to do the same.

"Hmm?" She tilted her head in confusion, but still did as told. Konata walked up to her and simply hugged her on the spot. Tsukasa was a little bewildered at first, but returned the hug soon enough.

"You did well, Tsukasa, I'm proud of you."

"Ehehe~."

"Congratulations on coming to terms with your feelings."

"Thank you very much and I'm happy you helped me such much, Kona-chan."

"I'm only repaying the favor."

"Hehe."

"Once you get her, let's all go on a real double date, okay?"

"Yes."

The two continued their hug for a couple minutes while feeling happy.

…

"Hoh~? What do we have here?" A voice entered their ears and when the two turned their heads, they saw Kagami standing in the door frame." Might I be interrupting on something?"

"Just a little~." Konata playfully answered her while hugging Tsukasa a little tighter.

"You can be happy it's Tsukasa, Kona."

"Don't worry, she'll always be the only exception, Kagamin~."

"And the only one I'll ever tolerate. It's good we're on the same page with that." There wasn't any anger or jealousy at all in her voice, just playfulness and a little bit of a warning for Konata in the background.

"Ehehe~." Tsukasa was happy to be said exception.

"So, what's going on?" Kagami came back to the topic at hand.

"Well…" Konata finally separated from her pseudo little sister and was about to explain the situation to Kagami when another person showed up next to her in the door, what caused Konata to stop. Instead, her eyes wandered back and forth between Tsukasa and the newly arrived Miyuki.

"Ah, I see~." Kagami understood her and decided to leave it for later.

"E-Ehm, what is going on?"

"N-Nothing! Nothing at all, Yuki-chan."

"Okay." Miyuki immediately trusted Tsukasa and simply shrugged her shoulders.

"By the way, Kona, sis, how's the lunch status? Is it done soon? I'm a little hungry…"

"…"

"…" Tsukasa and Konata looked at each other and turned pale.

"What's wrong?"

"Ehm… We'll start immediately!"

"Start?!"

"We're sorry!"

"Good grief…"

The two girls, who had completely forgotten about lunch while having their lively conversation, immediately started preparing the food. Afterward, they all ate together and had a nice day.

Later, when Miyuki had to head home first, everything was explained to Kagami, which conclusion resulted in having another group hug. When Kagami wanted to hear all the details, it ended with Tsukasa staying another night at Konata's place. They talked until long into the night and it somehow ended up with the three sleeping together in Konata's bed, but obviously, nothing more than a little harmless cuddling happened.

* * *

.

Well, that went further than I had planned… Well, whatever… I have finished my timeline for this story for the next 17 months inside my story. This was supposed to be the 'January chapter', but the whole Tsukasa thing originally wasn't a part of it. I regret nothing, though...

As always, Tsukasa's as cute as ever, but it looks like she also has a slightly hidden side to her. Well, she's a girl of the Hiiragi family after all, so, of course, she has.

Konata and Kagami are still as lovey-dovey as always, nothing new here. Not a bad thing if you ask me. Except when you have to watch your sugar level, that is.

I have created a timeline with a couple 'events' every month and I'm planning to release a chapter for each month. It's probably a rough idea, though. Looking at the events I planned, one month could easily fill two chapters while another chapter would need two months to have enough. Still, with this, it should be doable to do around 12-15 chapters before having to think about events again.

My other project, rewriting the first chapters… Well, I started the first chapter and corrected a couple grand grammar errors… but I became so embarrassed at some point that I hid myself under my blanket for the rest of the day (I surely still make mistakes, but I think it's not that bad anymore because those were just so…urgh… and the super awkward writing finished me off…). That means, I still want to do it, but it might take _slightly_ longer than expected.

Next chapter, the 'February chapter', will probably include Valentine's Day, among other things and will probably come out in May… I guess I have to speed up a little… Maybe I can make it someday that the chapter comes out in the same month…

Tip of the month: I was a little bored two or so weeks ago and found the visual novel 'Highway Blossoms' inside the vast internet. I'm usually not much of a fan of VN except obviously 'Kindred Spirits', but wow, that 'game' was amazing. The actual story in the background was a bit lacking, but, what mattered, the characters and their interactions were so great! If you're into yuri (well, I assume you are?) and have a couple bucks left, you should really try it. Best read I had in a long time.


	31. Valentine's Day

Chapter 31

The middle of February, a busy time for girls was currently ongoing because Valentine's Day was just around the corner. The twins had just entered a supermarket together and stopped right in front of a shelf filled with different kinds of chocolate.

"Well then, Tsukasa-sensei, what do you think is possible for me to make?"

"S-Sensei?" Tsukasa was surprised at the sudden change in her standing.

"Not good?"

"I-I'll allow it!" She liked it very much.

"So?"

"Hmm…" Tsukasa intensely stared at the chocolate for a while and then grabbed something. "W-Well…"

"Really?" Looking with cold eyes at the perfectly wrapped gift box of pre-made chocolate, Kagami wasn't very amused with the choice.

"B-But…"

"You do remember that my cooking skills are basically decent, thanks to Kona, by now, right, sis?"

"Why don't you make them with Kona-chan then?"

"For obvious reasons… You now, Kona being my girlfriend and it being Valentine's Day…"

"R-Right…" Even though Tsukasa had already acknowledged the miracle achieved by Konata, the trauma of her sister being in the kitchen runs deep.

"Although I don't know if Kona even makes anything, I still want to give her something…"

"Okay…" Tsukasa had nothing she could say against her anymore. "Oh, how about brownies? They're fairly easy to make, even with real chocolate."

"Brownies, huh? Why not, what do I need?"

"Tons of chocolate, butter, sugar, eggs, flour and cocoa powder."

"Uwah… Sounds healthy…"

"Onee-chan… You're going to make them for Kona-chan, not to eat them yourself…"

"R-Right…" She clearly looked disappointed. After getting over it, she placed a generous amount of dark and milk chocolate into her shopping basket.

"O-Onee-chan… That's enough for four trays of brownies, you know?"

"Four, huh?" She looked at her basket and then placed two more bars of chocolate in it.

"Ehh?"

"Tsukasa, do you really think I will succeed on my first try?" Kagami knew she had improved in the kitchen and the most important thing she learned for herself, was to calculate mistakes into her planning.

"I see!" Tsukasa finally understood and then placed even more chocolate into Kagami's basket.

"Oi!"

"I'm just helping you, onee-chan~."

"You're spending too much time with Kona, sis. Where did my obedient little sister go to?" She acted pretty dramatically while saying so.

"If we're talking about changes caused by Kona-chan, we're going to have to look for a mirror, onee-chan."

"Fair point." She didn't even try to deny it.

After deciding on a suitable amount of chocolate for Kagami, Tsukasa quickly, and full of confidence, grabbed all sorts of different chocolate for her project. Before finally leaving the store again, the two picked the other ingredients for the brownies and paid a surprisingly high amount of money to the clerk at the checkout.

…..

The twins arrived back home after a bit of walking and directly hogged the kitchen.

Well then, instructions please, Tsukasa-sensei."

"Ehehe~. A-Ahem… Melt the chocolate, add the butter, stir a lot and then, slowly added the remaining ingredients, I guess…" Tsukasa has yet to learn the importance of telling every single detail to Kagami in the kitchen.

"Okay, sounds easy enough. Hmm… Oh, melting chocolate was that over water thing, right?"

"Exactly."

"Great." Without anyone holding her back, Kagami directly sprang into action. She brought water in a pot to boil and placed a bowl with a whole bar of chocolate on top of it. Some time passed, but something wasn't going according to plan. "Sis, I don't think…"

"Hmm? Eh?! W-What happened?" Tsukasa looked at the chocolate and saw that it was completely burned.

"How should I know?"

"Well…" She lifted up the bowl and directly saw the problem. "I see… Onee-chan, you put too much water in the pot. The bowl shouldn't directly touch the boiling water because it's too hot. The chocolate is only supposed to be heated up by the steam."

"Oh~, I see."

"Still… to burn chocolate to a crisp with water… As expected of onee-chan."

"Did you say something, sis?"

"Also, if you cut the chocolate into smaller chunks, it'll heat up faster and more evenly." Tsukasa completely ignored her.

"Thanks." Not discouraged at all, Kagami placed some chocolate on a cutting board and tried to chop it with a knife. Unfortunately, for Tsukasa, chocolate is rather hard when not melted. Kagami applied too much pressure with her knife on the chocolate and a big piece of it broke up with great force. Said piece left afterimages in the air before hitting Tsukasa right between her eyes.

"!" Not even a sound of pain left the assassinated target before it slumped down on the floor while holding her head to support it.

"A-Are you alright, sis?!"

"I-I've been better before, but I'll survive… probably…"

"I'm sorry…"

"Don't worry, onee-chan, it wasn't on purpose, right? Please be a little more careful, though, okay?"

"I-I'll do my best" Kagami tried to cut the chocolate again and thanks to being a lot more careful, she finally succeeded. She then put it into the cleaned bowl again and started a new try on melting it. It went well, or so she thought at first. "Hey, sis, the chocolate is melted now, but somehow, the consistency of it is rather… weird." Kagami poked at the melted chocolate, which somehow was all clumped up.

"Ah… It's seized, onee-chan…" Tsukasa saw with just a short glimpse only that it was ruined.

"Eh? Why?"

"It probably came in contact with the water you used to melt it."

"I don't think so… Wait, I think it's possible that the bowl wasn't completely dry after I cleaned it. Is that enough already?"

"Yeah, that's it. A single drop of water can already ruin your complete chocolate. The fat in it doesn't work well with water. Well, you can somehow fix it, but the chocolate will never be as good as before…"

"A new try it is, then" Perfect was the only option for Kagami when working on something for Konata.

"Okay, you still have a few tries until you run out of ingredients. Go for it."

"Yeah." Kagami melted another badge of chocolate and this time, it really looked good. After she succeeded, Tsukasa told her mix in the butter and then let it cool down a little before continuing with the remaining ingredients. Quite an amount of time passed and she grew impatient. "Sis, how much longer do I have to wait?"

"Eh?"

"Huh?" She didn't understand why Tsukasa sounded surprised.

"O-Onee-chan, you were only supposed to wait a few minutes… It only should cool down a couple degrees… Ah, yep, it's hard again…" Tsukasa analyzed and she had bad news for the patient.

"Why didn't you tell me so?!"

"I-I thought you knew. It's pretty…"

"Great… Another new try it is…"

"Nonono, just carefully reheating is enough. You only lost a little time, not the patient."

"Oh, it's not so bad then." Kagami's resistance against failures had become rather thick after her training with Konata. After the mix had the optimal temperature again, she started adding the, already portioned, other ingredients. Everything went well until her elbow accidentally hit the package of the remaining flour. It made a splendid arch in the air and then energetically exploded on the floor. The huge 'flour-cloud' filled up almost the entire kitchen and turned it into a winter wonderland, but Kagami didn't care about it at all and simply continued to mix the ingredients as a white ghost.

"O-Onee-chan…?" Tsukasa wasn't sure how to react or what to say.

"Don't, I'm concentrating over here!"

"O-Okay…" Being in a blind spot shielded Tsukasa from most of the flour, but looking at her sister and the rest of the kitchen, it really wasn't okay at all.

"Hmm…" Finishing her preparations, Kagami started smiling and finally looked at Tsukasa, but completely ignored the situation. "I'm done~! What's next?"

"O-Onee-chan, what about…" Tsukasa pointed at the complete white girl in front of her and then at the rest of the kitchen.

"Don't mind the small details."

"Uhm… J-Just put the batter in a rectangular form and bake it for 30 mins… I already preheated the oven for you earlier…" Tsukasa had problems keeping up with her sister.

"Thanks~." She did as told and after the brownies were safely in the oven, she finally looked around the kitchen. "Wow, flour sure is… It really is everywhere…"

"Onee-chan…" Tsukasa actually let out a sigh. "Did Kona-chan really teach you how to cook or was it just lessons in how not to care about mistakes anymore?" The past _few_ mistakes were a clear indicator against the former.

"It's kind of weird actually… When I'm with Kona, I already make next to no _big_ mistakes anymore…" She also had no explanation for today.

"Really? Somehow, I can't see it at all…"

"It really is! Kona even praised my improvements not too long ago… Ah!" While Kagami was happily thinking about how Konata praised her, she looked at the oven and panicked a little. "The batter isn't evenly spread in the form and… Isn't the temperature also a bit too high? Have I accidentally changed it when I put the brownies in the oven?" While she was correcting her mistakes, Tsukasa had a blank look on her face.

"…" There was nothing coming out of her open mouth.

"What's wrong, sis?" Kagami didn't understand why she was looking like that.

"Onee-chan… You were just thinking about Kona-chan, weren't you? Just by doing that, you even saw the slightest detail… I don't even know what to say right now…"

"Ehehe~."

"I'm definitely not praising you! Wait! Why do I have the feeling that our roles are reversed right now?!" Tsukasa wasn't used to play the straight man in a conversation with her.

"Maybe Kona's the reason I'm able to cook and without her, I'm still useless in the kitchen…?"

"Oh, that's easy then. You just have to stay with Kona-chan for the rest of your life then, onee-chan."

"…" Kagami didn't answer and the only thing that changed was the color of her cheeks, who became dyed in a deep crimson.

"Onee-chan…" Tsukasa was again unable to say anything meaningful and just looked at her with warm eyes. Deep down, she maybe even was a little jealous.

While waiting for the brownies to bake, Kagami started cleaning up the kitchen. The mess she had produced was pretty big after all. 29 minutes passed and her eyes were now glued to the oven. Another minute went by and Kagami was smiling from ear to as she took the perfectly baked brownies out of the oven.

"They're done~."

"Good for you, onee-chan. Oh~, they look really good. It seems like they were a great success."

"Ehehe~." Kagami was pretty satisfied with herself.

"All that's left now is letting them cool down before cutting."

"Yeah, thanks for helping me, sis. By the way, what are you going to make for Vale-… Eh?" She was interested in the sweets Tsukasa's going to make, but when she looked at her, her surprise was big.

"Hmm? Me? I made pralines." In front of Tsukasa, there were about 50 perfectly manufactured pralines. The great variety and flawless look easily rivaled those of a professional patissier.

"Ehm… T-Tsukasa, where did those pralines come from?"

"I just told you that I made them…"

"Nonono… Didn't they appear out of nowhere just now?" She couldn't believe that Tsukasa made them in such a short amount of time.

"No…? I was working on them the entire time you were busy with your brownies…"

"R-Really…?"

"Really."

"I never noticed…" Kagami really had seen nothing at all.

"Well… You were pretty concentrated on your brownies."

"Are you sure you haven't used some sort of magic, sis? Like instant creation or teleportation, or time-…"

"No, Kona-chan, I didn't use any magic… Oh, sorry, I meant 'onee-chan'…" Tsukasa _forgot_ for a moment who she was talking to right now.

"…" Kagami's expression was rather difficult to read right now.

"Anyway… Onee-chan, how about go ahead and take a bath now? You still have flour and even a bit chocolate in your hair… No, all over your body…"

"Yeah… That's probably a good idea." She looked down at herself and quickly agreed.

Just like that, a pretty eventful day ended in the Hiiragi household.

…..

Valentine's Day arrived and as usual, the girls were spending their lunch break in school together. Even though this particular day made a lot of their classmates, especially the boys, pretty nervous, our group was basically the same as usual. After a while, Tsukasa was the one who started.

"Here, Kona-chan, Yuki-chan." Tsukasa rummaged a bit in her bag and then handed over two neatly wrapped boxes of pralines to the two. There were some _slight_ differences in them, though. While Konata's pralines were in a rectangular, normal sized box, Miyuki's was twice as big and also heart shaped.

"T-Thank you very much, Tsukasa-san."

"That's some stupidly high quality. You'll become world famous in the future, Tsukasa." Konata's evaluation and praise were as high as they can get.

"T-That's too much, Kona-chan…"

"Nonono… Anyway, Tsukasa, as usual, be sure to not give any of them to anyone else today. There's no way they wouldn't get the wrong idea about it."

"Really? Well, I hadn't planned on giving out anymore either in the first place."

"That's good." Konata was relieved to hear that, but somehow, Miyuki looked even more relieved.

"I-I guess it's my turn now?" Saying so, Miyuki handed over two fancy wrapped pouches with chocolate cookies inside to the twins. The difference in the packaging and the form of the cookies was similar with the pralines of Tsukasa.

"Thank you very much, Yuki-chan~." Tsukasa was happy to receive the cookies from her.

"Haa…" Kagami sighed all of a sudden and when Konata looked at her, she saw that she seemed nervous for some reason.

"What's wrong, Kagamin~?"

"Here!" She suddenly shoved the box with the brownies in Konata's face. "I-It's not like I made them especially for or anything, okay?! I just made them because I felt like it! D-Don't get any funny ideas! There's absolutely no meaning behind it! Hmpf!" At the end, she turned her face away with puffed out cheeks.

"…" Konata was completely speechless as she looked with big eyes and an open mouth at her. Then, suddenly, tears started to form in the corners of her eyes before she instantly hugged Kagami on the spot and brought her mouth closer to her ear. "I love you so much." Konata had understood Kagami's intention and was overjoyed.

"You are welcome…" They almost kissed, but because they remembered that they were still in the classroom, both quickly separated again. Kagami sat down on her chair and immediately buried her face into her hands. "I sooo want to dieee! Acting like this way too embarrassing! How could anyone be like that all the time?! That's why otakus are so…" While she was talking away her embarrassment, three pairs of eyes were staring in disbelief at her.

"…" Nobody could say a single word.

"W-What?" Kagami noticed the stares.

"Kagamin~…"

"Onee-chan…"

"Kagami-san…"

"W-Why are you all looking with such pitiful eyes at me?!"

"Erm…" Konata searched for fitting words. "You did this for me, right? Because I like tsunderes and always called you one, right?"

"Y-Yes… That's why I looked up the typical behavior of a _real_ one and did my best in copying it…"

"Onee-chan…" Tsukasa also looked a bit troubled. "That wasn't very different from how you interacted with Kona-chan about a year ago…"

"N-No way! I-I was never like _that_!" She denied it with all her might.

"A-Actually…" Even Miyuki had something to add. "Weren't you holding back a little earlier?" No, she didn't add something, she dealt the finishing blow.

"Auu…" She let out a devastated voice. "T-That's not true… R-Right?" She hopefully looked at her friends, but everyone just turned their heads away. Then, Kagami gave up on life, placed her head on the table and folded her hands above it while mumbling something unintelligible. Everyone felt a bit guilty, but because none of them lied, the situation was a little difficult.

"Kagamin~…" She had no comforting words ready. The only thing she could was gently patting her back. Furthermore, Konata was trying her best not to burst into laughing right now, anyway. Roughly five minutes passed and everyone had recovered to some degree again.

"H-How are the brownies, Kona?" Deciding that earlier never happened, Kagami brought the topic back to Valentine's Day.

"Brownies…? Oh… those…" She was so overwhelmed by Kagami's _play_ that she totally hadn't realized the brownies. She immediately tried one and directly held her cheek in delight when tasting it. "W-Wow… such a rich chocolate flavor… They're also really moist and fudgy… They're also not too sweet. The mix of dark and milk chocolate is perfect… W-What's up with those godly brownies?!"

"T-They're not that good…" The over the top praise overwhelmed her a little.

"No, they're simply perfect! I've never eaten so good brownies in my life!"

"Ehehe~." Kagami became bashful, but it was pretty easy to see how happy she was.

"Isn't that nice, onee-chan?" Tsukasa looked at her sister with a sweet smile. "Your hard work really paid out, huh?"

"Yes!" A powerful answer.

"Oh? I smell a delicious story behind those delicious brownies." Konata became interested.

"You see…" Tsukasa told Konata the story of how her clumsy girlfriend did her best in making the brownies for her while almost destroying the kitchen.

"Kagamin~… Your moe level officially went off the charts, you know?"

"S-Shut up, idiot…"

"Why, though? I know that sweets are harder to make than regular cooking because precision is more important, but… you shouldn't be _that_ bad at it anymore…" Konata was surprised at how much she messed up.

"That's actually your fault, Kona-chan."

"Huh?" The sudden accusation confused her.

"Onee-chan's completely unable to cook without you…"

"There's no way that's…" Konata obviously tried to deny such a silly idea, but after she saw Kagami's embarrassed face, she stopped. "Eh?! R-Really?"

"Yes…" Kagami gave her a shy nod.

"Onee-chan kept messing up with everything, but when she started thinking about you, Kona-chan, she suddenly showed professional-like skills…"

"Ehm…" Konata wasn't sure what to say.

"I hope you'll take responsibility for her, Kona-chan."

"R-Responsibility?"

"You'll have to stay forever together with onee-chan because she'll never survive out there on her own."

"T-Tsukasa!" The embarrassment of Kagami reached a new high today. Right now, she just wanted to hide and curl herself up somewhere, but then she noticed Konata looking at her. Their eyes met and when Konata showed her an incredibly sweet and sincere smile, Kagami relaxed again and smiled back.

"Aww…" Tsukasa was a bit disappointed that her teasing failed again, but looking at the two, she didn't feel sad again.

"Hey, Kona…" When the pink space around them started to lessen, she became interested in something. "Are you this year on the receiving end only as well, or…"

"Nope. Here, Tsukasa, have some cookies from me, as well." She gave her come cookies that looked strangely similar to those of Miyuki, but then, Konata looked like she had finished already.

"Eh?" Kagami was obviously surprised that she had gotten nothing.

"Sorry, only good kids get sweets, Kagamin~."

"Is that so? Hmm… Hey, Kona?"

"Yes?"

"I want my brownies back then."

"No, I totally was a good kid!" Hearing those words from Konata, Kagami's face cramped up a little.

"Ko~na~ta~."

"I-I'm just joking, Kagamin~. Of course I have something for you. It's just… you have to come over to my house for it."

"Why does that sounds like a total trap to me?" She felt like it was pretty suspicious sounding.

"Because you have unreasonable trust issues?"

"Whose fault do you think that is?!"

"D-Don't worry, Kagami-san. The thing Konata-san prepared for just became a little too big to bring to school." Miyuki suddenly explained the situation to her.

"Is that so

…? Wait… Why do you know that?" Kagami got only more suspicious about the whole thing.

"Miyuki came to my place yesterday because she wanted a little help with her cookies."

"So that's why Kona-chan's and Yuki-chan's cookies are the same?"

"Yeah, but because I was too busy with Kagamin~'s… thing… I could only help her a bit and claimed a few cookies as a reward."

"W-What do you mean by 'thing'?" It was official now, Kagami had a bad feeling.

"I just overdid it a _little_ , Kagamin~…"

"What do you mean by a 'little'?"

"Maybe it became some sort of monster, whose calorie count easily reached five digits… I mean EASILY…"

"A-Are you serious? I'm going to get sooo faaat~." She started to complain, but strangely, no one believed her protests.

While the group continued to merrily chat with each other, none of them noticed that half of their classmates were crying tears of blood right. They didn't know it, but Tsukasa and Miyuki were actually pretty popular because Tsukasa had a really cute character and a comfy aura around her while Miyuki had two other _big_ reasons for her popularity. The demand of Kagami and Konata also wasn't zero for certain groups of people, but every single one knew that approaching would mean instant annihilation caused by Kagami-sama. Some people of a certain group actually thought that would be a reward in itself, but those got stopped by their classmates. Seeing this group of outstanding girls keeping Valentine's Day all for themselves obviously made a lot of people cry more than just ordinary tears. Although, even if the group would be aware of their popularity, nothing would've changed at this point. If anything, things could've gotten even more painful for the class and so, they were actually kind of lucky in a sense.

…

School ended relatively safe for everyone and because Kagami was curious, she directly went together with Konata to her house. Not that it's unusual for her to accompany Konata after school in the first place.

When they arrived, Kagami went to the living room first and waited for a couple minutes before Konata finally joined while carrying _something_.

"W-What is that?!" She was shocked when she saw the _thing_ Konata was holding.

"Chocolate…?" Konata played innocent. "Mainly…"

"I can see that… more or less, but… a whole cake?! And are those…?"

"Yes, it's a pocky cake~." Konata proudly presented the cake she created. It basically was a chocolate cake, but its entire outside was covered in pocky sticks.

"Wow, that's… wow."

"You have no idea how many pocky fits on such a cake… I almost need eleven boxes of them…"

"E-Eleven?! Don't you think even a fourth of the size would already more than overkill?"

"Well… Yes… I just got too much into it and you can see the result now…"

"Yeah, it's really impressive… Thank you very much, Kona."

"You're welcome." She cut the cake into pieces and gave Kagami a slice who promptly tried it.

"Wow, as expected of you, pocky, chocolate, and cake, it's beyond great. The crispiness of the pocky together with the soft cake is awesome."

"I'm happy to hear it. Well then, good look finishing the cake, Kagamin~."

"There's just no way that's going to happen! I'm not even sure I can more than one slice in one sitting. Do you have any idea how heavy this is?"

"Aww, come on, I'll help you. Here, say 'ahh~'." Even though Kagami still had something on her own plate, Konata suddenly started feeding her.

"I still have… mpffh!" Konata had no mercy and simply shoved it directly into her mouth. Thanks to it being delicious, though, Kagami didn't mind it very much in the end. The cake on her own plate soon had a new use as well. Just like she was being fed right now, she started feeding Konata as some sort of revenge. While the two continued to feed each other, their faces came closer and when they finally reached a 'good' distance, they heard a knock on the door that instantly killed the mood. Sojiro entered the living room and looked at the two for a moment.

"Sorry, am I interrupting something?"

"Yes." Two very honest and strong answers were given.

"S-Sorry… Well, I just wanted to tell you that Yutaka's coming over later."

"Oh, that's cool… Wait, why?"

"She passed her high school entrance exam."

"Good job, Yu-chan… No, that's no reason for her to come over, isn't it?"

"Ah… Just ask her yourself when she's here later…" Saying so, Sojiro left the room again.

"Eh? He's totally hiding something, isn't he?"

"Wait… I think I heard her name before somewhere, but who's Yutaka?" Kagami still hadn't caught up with everything.

"Right… You don't know her, do you? Yutaka's my little cousin."

"Ah, cousin, I see… But by 'little' you only mean that she's younger, right?" Kagami had a few doubts about the world 'little'.

"No… Well, of course she's young when she just passed her exam, but she actually _is_ smaller than I am."

"Heh~?" Kagami didn't believe her.

"Those eyes kind of hurt, Kagamin~."

"I-I'm sorry… It's just that…"

"It's true! You'll see it later!"

….

30 minutes passed and they noticed another person approaching the living room. Yutaka timidly walked inside and stopped when she saw the two girls.

"Whoa, she really is smaller than you, Kona…"

"See!"

"Au…" Not even knowing the name of the girl next to her cousin, Yutaka had already received plenty of damage from her.

"Ah! N-No, I'm terribly sorry! That wasn't nice of me… I hope you won't think too bad of me now… I'm Kagami and I'm…" She started panicking because of her bad first impression and looked at Konata in order to find out how she's supposed to introduce herself. Seeing the mischievous grin of hers, she had a good idea of what she's planning. "I'm a very good friend of Kona…"

"P-Please don't worry about it, Kagami-senpai… It's actually the normal reaction I get…" She still looked a bit depressed. "N-Nice to meet you, Kagami-senpai. A-As you already know, my name is Yutaka, Kobayakawa Yutaka and I'm the cousin of Konata-oneechan." While stuttering a bit, she introduced herself to Kagami.

"Wow, she's such a good girl, Kona…"

"I know, right?"

"So unexpected, knowing that she's part of your family."

"Kagamin~, you're being pretty rude today again…"

"Sorry~." She wasn't sorry at all. "Isn't that nice, though? You _do_ have someone who calls you 'oneechan'.

"W-What?!" Konata's face instantly turned red. "T-Tsukasa told you about it, didn't she?!"

"Of course she did."

"What a traitor!"

"Hehe."

"A-Anyway…" Konata came back to the topic. "Why are you here, Yu-chan?"

"I came to announce that I passed my entrance exam."

"Dad already told me that much, but I still don't understand what that has to do with you coming over her. By the way, congratulations on passing."

"T-Thanks you very much… Wait, nobody told you?"

"About what?"

"I'm going to enter your school this spring, Konata-oneechan."

"Heh? That's great. Although, isn't it a bit far from your place?"

"Y-Yes… Because of that, I'm going to start living here next month…"

"I see… that makes sense… Wait, what?!"

"You really didn't know?"

"Not at all… Why didn't my father say anything?"

"Kona, we're talking about your father here… I bet he thought it would be funny to surprise you with it."

"That actually makes perfect sense…" Konata nodded at Kagami's idea because it definitely is something he would do. "It sure is a nice surprise, though. I look forward to living together with you, Yu-chan."

"M-Me as well… I'll probably be a burden a lot of times, but…"

"Don't worry about it… Wait, it does cut down my quality alone time with Kagamin~, though…"

"Ah! That's true…" Kagami had also understood that there's one more person in the Izumi house now.

"Hmm? Alone time?" Yutaka looked confused.

"I-It's nothing, Yu-chan, you're too young to know anyway…"

"Eh?" Only more question marks started to float above her head.

"Shut up already, Kona." Kagami stopped her before she goes too far again. "By the way, Yutaka, why did you chose our school when you live so far away?"

"That's actually quite simple… Around my place, there aren't any good high schools and so it somehow ended up in the current situation."

"That is indeed simple… Well, our school is pretty good. Even though Kona's there as well…"

"Oi! At least use Tsukasa as an example…"

"Uhm… S-She doesn't know Tsukasa, does she?" Kagami had no better response.

"Yes, I hope it'll go well. The entrance exam was already pretty hard… But I met a really nice person there." Yutaka's eyes suddenly started to sparkle.

"Really? Who was it?"

"I-I don't know her name… but she was really tall and a little scary looking."

"That's… nice?"

"She really was super nice! When I was feeling sick and had to use the restroom, she looked really worried and even gave me her handkerchief." It looked like she was really fond of that mysterious girl from the first second. "Meeting her again is proving super difficult, though… I wanted to look for her when the results of the exams are published, but…"

"Doesn't our school send the result per mail?"

"Y-Yes…"

"Oh… Yeah, I see the problem…"

"Now I have to wait until school starts to see her again." Yutaka looked genuinely sad.

"If she passed herself, that is…" Konata wasn't helping.

"I-I'm sure she passed!"

"And if she still went to a different school?" She still wasn't helping.

"Konata-oneechan!" She started to get a little angry and puffed out her cheeks.

"I'm sorry… I'm sure you'll see her again."

"Yes… I really want to be friends with her… I never had any close friends because I'm always sick and absent from school… I really want to change and I somehow feel like she could help me with it…"

"K-Kona, is it really okay that such a pure and good kid's going to live here together with you and your father?" Kagami was almost moved to tears by Yutaka.

"Yeah, I have the same worry… Especially because you're here as well, Kagamin~."

"…" This comeback was too good for Kagami to retort to and quickly tried to divert the attention. "Ah! Now that you think about it… Yutaka, do you want a slice of the cake?" She pointed at the table. "Sorry for not saying anything earlier…"

"R-Really? Is that okay?"

"Of course it is. That monster's way too big for us to finish alone, anyway." Kagami placed a slice of the cake on a plate and handed it over to Yutaka who quickly tried it.

"Wow, it's sooo good! Did you make this, Kagami-senpai?"

"No, Kona made it for me."

"She made it for you?"

"Well, today's Valentine's Day…"

"Oh, now that you mention it… Is a whole cake something you give to a friend on Valentine's Day?" Yutaka had never received nor gave anything noteworthy on Valentine's Day and so she had no idea what was normal.

"It's normal between me and Kagamin~, Yu-chan." The cryptic answer only confused her.

"What does that mean?"

"That's a long story… Whatever, Yu-chan, you don't know much about this house outside the living room, do you?" Konata quickly changed to the topic because it was too troublesome.

"No, I don't…" She was still confused, but let it go for the time being.

"How about we give you a little tour?"

"Yes, that sounds like a good idea."

The girls left the living room and went to the first stop of the tour.

"Well, this is the kitchen… or battlefield if Kagamin's there. Right, Yu-chan, if you see Kagamin~ in her, you have to be careful!"

"W-Why?"

"See the mark up there?" Konata pointed at the ceiling. "That happened when Kagamin~ made a pot explode…"

"W-Wow…" Yutaka actually looked impressed.

"S-Shut up, Kona! That hasn't happened in forever!"

"That's true… Yeah, she has become better at cooking, Yu-chan. Still, stay vigilant."

"I-I will!"

"Haa…" Kagami rubbed her temples.

Afterward, the three went upstairs and Konata opened the door to a small room.

"I don't think you're ever going to need anything out of here, but the is the storage room of dad and me…"

"Wow… soo many books and figurines… Do you two collect these things?" Yutaka was fascinated by the collection of Konata and Sojiro.

"Something like that…"

"Kona, it's been some time since I last saw it, but this room wasn't always this full, wasn't it?"

"Sure, we've added tons of things since then." She didn't feel guilty in the slightest.

"Haa… Oh, these huge figures are still here, huh?" Kagami saw the nine figures of the magical girls anime on the floor she remembered from last time.

"Yeah… I really need to get rid of them someday… We'll probably need the space soon enough…"

"Why don't you just throw them away?"

"No way!"

"Then stop buying new stuff…"

"That's also a no."

"You're so…" Kagami had no fitting words.

"Anyway, let's go to my room for now." Konata ignored her and guided Yutaka to her room.

"Woow~, here are also so many books and figurines. You really have a lot of them, Konata-oneechan."

"Ehehe~." That doesn't necessarily count as praise, Kona…"

"Also, most of the actual books are Kagamin's anyway…"

"And your bed's also really big."

"Yeah, there were some… circumstances…"

"Hmm?" Yutaka took a better look at the bed and saw that it's clearly used by two people, but because of a lack of explanation, she stayed silent with a confused look on her face.

"Well, I guess we should head over to your new room now, Yu-chan." Konata guided her to a room at the end of the hallway and opened the door.

"Oh, this is a really nice room. Eh, I think it's even bigger than the room in my home…" Yutaka seemed pretty happy with the place she's staying for the next years.

"That's good to hear."

"Hmm?" Yutaka walked closer to the bed and saw a red T-shirt lying on it. "Konata-oneechan, is that your shirt?"

"No, that doesn't look like one of mine." She tilted her head as she was going through her wardrobe in her head.

"Ah!" Kagami suddenly raised her voice. "That's mine! I was looking everywhere for it already… How did it end up here?"

"Hmm… Oh, that's right…" Konata seemed to remember something, leaned closer to Kagami and whispered something into her ear.

"O-Oh… y-yeah…" She instantly started to blush and looked away from Yutaka.

"What's wrong?" Yutaka seemed concerned about Kagami, but this made it even worse for her.

"Don't worry, Yu-chan. Kagamin~'s just a little embarrassed that you found out that she's a little messy with her clothes…"

"D-Don't worry, Kagami-senpai! I-I also occasionally forget to put away my clothes!" Yutaka earnestly tried to cheer her up, but Kagami was about to reach her limit of feeling guilty and even Konata started to feel sorry about the situation.

"Au…" Kagami couldn't take it anymore and went behind Konata. There, she buried her face into Konata's shoulder because she wanted to hide herself.

"R-Right, there's something I wanted to ask…" Yutaka wanted to change the topic.

"What is it, Yu-chan?"

"Does Kagami-senpai also lives here? I somehow have the feeling she does…"

"Ehm…" That was a question Konata wasn't expecting. "O-Occasionally, I guess?"

"Occasionally?" Yutaka tilted her head because she didn't understand what she meant.

"When we're on break, she often stays for a longer period of time… She also sleeps over more often than not and is more or less here every day…" There really wasn't much difference to actually living there anymore.

"Wow, that sounds nice."

"It really is." Even though Yutaka and Konata agreed on it, it felt like the reason was a different one for each person.

"Ahh, I really hope I can become as good friends with the girl from the entrance exam as you and Kagami-senpai are…" She looked really envious about the relationship of the two.

"Uhm… S-Sure…" Konata had an extremely difficult expression on her face and looked behind her at Kagami. Their eyes met and the expression on both faces became even harder to read.

"Ahahaha…" The couple looked at Yutaka again and all they could do, was letting out a really dry and forced laugh. Yutaka had once more question marks floating above her head, but the two never said another word.

* * *

.

Fun fact: While writing this chapter, I got such a craving for brownies that I actually made a couple one. They were delicious.

I wasn't expecting to get another chapter ready in April. I could've waited a few days because next week marks exactly one year since I started posting this story here, but I think a faster chapter is better.

Yutaka entered the party and Kagami had once more a hard time. Good thing she has Konata.

Next chapter will be the 'March' one… even though it's probably not going to have anything to do with March. Even more, I have already made more progress on the following 'April' chapter… Well, I'll figure something out, I guess… One chapter should definitely come out next month. Maybe I can get a second one as well, but not sure yet.

I also finally started editing the first chapter. 1 – 3 is already done, to a readable degree, that is and wow, I love every single one of you for staying with me until now… How were you even able to read, let alone understand what I was doing there?! Even I had to read multiple passages more than once to even get what I meant and I'm not even talking about the tons of grammar/spelling errors that were so obvious that I wanted to cry on multiple occasions… Every time I finished editing one, I was about to die from the embarrassment! My grammar/spelling is by no means even near perfect now and I probably still make a lot of stupid mistakes, but I think it's okay enough? I at least hope so, but back then… wow… I even see a difference in the statistics already. Way more people actually go the second and third chapter now... Again, thanks for sticking with me.


	32. White Day

Exactly a month since Valentine's Day passed and that means today's White Day, the day where you give the person you received chocolate from, something sweet as thanks on your own. Because there was an organizational event going on in the school, the students had a free day. This was a blessing for Konata and co.'s classmates for more than just one reason. The chances of them surviving another day like Valentine's Day last month was pretty low after all. Thanks to having no school today, Tsukasa decided to visit Konata in order to hand over the candies she made for her.

"Hello, Kona-chan and onee-chan." Tsukasa arrived in Konata's room and greeted the two. Kagami obviously was there already as well.

"Hey, there~."

"Here, Kona-chan, I have some candy for you." She wasted no time and handed over a box full of colorful looking candies.

"Oh~, thank you very much. I see, ridiculously high quality as usual, huh? I'm sorry, but I only have candies I bought in a store for you…" Saying so, Konata also gave her a box full of sweets. "I'm fairly confident with chocolate, but candy totally isn't my forte, like at all…"

"Don't worry, Kona-chan, I'm happy enough for the gesture. Besides, store bought candy isn't bad at all." Tsukasa didn't care about whether it was handmade or not. "Oh, while we're at it… What did you and onee-chan give each other?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Yeah, after I made the cake for Kagamin~ on Valentine's Day, I had to swear that there's going to be no sweets for the next three months. You have no idea how much she complained to me the day after when she had a devastating encounter with the scale in the bathroom…"

"I see… Well, I saw the cake on a photo and yeah, it really was a bit much. Oh! So that's why our pantry at home is full of pocky boxes, onee-chan? Mom keeps buying them as usual, but you're not eating any of them…"

"T-Tsukasa!" She immediately became embarrassed and angry.

"Heh~? So she's actually sticking to her own rule, huh? I wasn't expecting that."

"Oi!"

"What? Judging by past experiences, my doubt isn't exactly unfounded."

"Grr!" Having no argument against her, she only growled a bit.

"Well, let's change the topic. Tsukasa, how is going at the Miyuki front?"

"…" Hearing the question of Konata, she immediately fell silent.

"Eh? What happened?"

"Nothing happened…"

"What's the problem then?" Konata didn't understand why she was looking so dejected.

"That… That's the problem…"

"Hmm…? Oh!" It finally clicked after realizing that she meant 'nothing' literally.

"Yeah…"

"Meaning you're a little frustrated, huh?" Speaking from experience, Konata understood her pretty well.

"Yes!" A strong answer, with no hesitation at all. "Why didn't you tell me that taking my time and enjoying all the little events was a bad idea for my sanity, Kona-chan?!"

"Oi!" She told her more than once.

"Anyway…" Tsukasa didn't listen to her objection. "This is way too hard! I mean, I still enjoy it and all, but… Why is it so hard to hold back?! Ever since Kona-chan made me realize that I do love Yuki-chan, I kind of want to… touch her and it's really hard not to go further than simple cuddling… Not that I have an idea what to do besides cuddling, but I just want to! It's almost at the place where it hurts, you know? I really don't think taking it slow is going to work much longer! After all…" Tsukasa kept energetically venting her frustration until the couple finally had to stop her.

"You don't say!" Konata and Kagami retorted at the same time. They both thought it was a romantic idea of Tsukasa to enjoy it at her own pace, but at the same time, they knew it wasn't going to work. Having experienced it themselves, the two were more than aware that once you know what you want, you want it immediately. Taking it slow or even holding back wasn't an option. That Tsukasa also knows that the feelings are mutual, it only sped up things even further. The explosive outburst the couple experienced right now was the only natural outcome.

"You know the most frustrating thing about it, Kona-chan, onee-chan?" Apparently, she still wasn't done complaining.

"What is it?"

"It's completely the fault of the two of you!"

"Eh?!" Not expecting the sudden accusation, the two looked rather confused.

"You're so lovey-dovey all the time and once you think nobody's watching, it gets even worse and you're immediately all over each other… If you can even hold back until it looks like no one is watching, that is… Do you have any idea how… how jealous I am?!"

"Even though we're already keeping it down so much when we're outside or with you and Miyuki…" The two weren't sorry in the slightest.

"That doesn't help at all, onee-chan!" Tsukasa snapped at her sister.

"Now, now… You really can't blame us for that, can you?" Konata, being the voice of reason, tried to calm Tsukasa down.

"It's still extremely frustrating…"

"And whose fault is that?"

"Okay… I'll stop complaining, Kona-chan…"

"That's good to hear. Well then, what's the plan?"

"A good question… Maybe I'll stop holding back and just go with the flow…?" Tsukasa wasn't sure what to do herself.

"How about going on the offense already? In the first place, I have no idea how you managed to endure it until now anyway… If I had known my feelings for Kagamin~ were mutual, I would've jumped at her the second I found out…" Konata was amazed at the patience of Tsukasa. Incidentally, Kagami was nodding in agreement the entire time.

"That sure sounds easy…"

"Just do your best~."

"I will. Thanks, Kona-chan."

"You know, you're kind of amazing, Kona." Once the two finished their talk, Kagami decided to join the conversation again.

"I know~. Wait, why?"

"The advice you're always giving… How do you even know so much about it?"

"In the games I play, there's always…"

"Stop right there! I'm sorry I even asked…" Kagami didn't want to ruin the good image she was having off her right now and urged Konata to stop before she could damage her reputation more.

"Ehehe~." While Konata was giggling to herself, the group suddenly heard a knock on the door. "Yes?"

"K-Konata-oneechan?" Yutaka timidly peeked her head into the room. "I-Is everything alright? I heard some loud arguing earlier…"

"Oh, Yu-chan, you're here already? Come in, come in." She beckoned her in.

"O-Okay… I just arrived earlier just to be greeted by someone shouting…"

"Ah… No, that was just Tsukasa letting out some steam. Nothing to worry about."

"I-I'm very sorry!" Another Hiiragi sister left a questionable first impression on Yutaka as Tsukasa wasn't aware that she was complaining that loud earlier.

"It's okay, I was just a little surprised… Tsukasa-senpai, was it?"

"Right, Yu-chan, this is Hiiragi Tsukasa. As you can see… or not, it depends a little on the angle, she's the twin sister of Kagamin~."

"Nice to meet you, Tsukasa-senpai."

"Nice to meet you as well, Yutaka-chan."

"So, you're finally moving in, huh?" Kagami looked at her when the introduction was over.

"That's right, Kagami-senpai. While I still think I'm going to be a burden on everyone here, I'm looking forward to spending time with you and Konata-oneechan."

"Onee-chan… You're totally a part of this house already, aren't you?" Tsukasa was amazed at how naturally Yutaka added her sister into her speech and how no one even tried to correct her.

"Well…" Kagami had nothing to say in her defense.

"Yutaka-chan, when do you start moving in here?"

"I'm actually in the middle of it… Once all my boxes are in my room, I'll get on it."

"Don't overexert yourself and take your time, Yu-chan."

"I-I won't! Probably…" She wasn't so sure about it herself.

"Oh, why don't we help you unpacking?"

"N-No, you really don't have to. That would be too much to ask…" Yutaka tried to turn Tsukasa's offer down.

"There's no need to be reserved, Yu-chan."

"Yeah… Reservation will only give you a hard time around here…"

"Hmm?"

"Or are you trying to hide something in one of these boxes?"

"Hiding?" Yutaka just innocently tilted her head.

"…" Konata felt guilty and hung her head in shame. Kagami felt sympathy and gently patted her shoulder to console her.

"Anyway, let's go!" Tsukasa grabbed Yutaka's hand and dragged her out of the room, leaving the couple behind.

"Tsukasa's being high tension as usual again, huh?"

"It's a good training for Yutaka, I guess…" Kagami was just happy that she wasn't the victim this time.

"Hey, Kagamin~, how about we wait ten minutes or so before joining the? Letting Tsukasa cool down a bit and all…"

"Oh, now I feel less bad for thinking the same…"

….

17 minutes passed and the two finally made their way towards Yutaka's new room. Arriving there, they looked a little confused.

"Yu-chan… Where's Tsukasa?" When the two entered the room, both only saw Yutaka standing next to a big box with even more boxes in the background.

"W-Well…" She wasn't sure what to say.

"Wahhh!" Tsukasa suddenly jumped out of the big box and countless plush toys started to fly through the room.

"Ehm…" Konata and Kagami weren't exactly surprised, they just looked a little dumbfounded at the scene while scratching the back of their heads.

"T-Tsukasa-senpai found the box with my plushies…"

"Yeah…"

"… We see that…"

"They're all sooo cute! You have a great taste, Yutaka-chan." While praising her, Tsukasa started cuddling a stuffed tiger.

"T-Thank you very much… What am I supposed to do now, Konata-oneechan?" She was more than just a little overwhelmed by Tsukasa.

"Let her have her will… There's nothing you can do once she's like that… I mean, it's cute how she is, but…" Konata let out a strained sigh at the end.

"Yeah…" Kagami joined her.

"I-I see…" It didn't take long before Tsukasa grabbed Yutaka again and both ended up in the mountain of plush toys. The two played with the plushies for a while and the couple only watched them with warm eyes.

"Cuteness is justice after all."

"Yeah… It's a sight for sore eyes." Kagami normally would've retorted something, but seeing the two fluffy girls in front of them playing with plush toys, she could only agree. Leaning against the frame of the door, the two, with their gentle looking eyes, almost looked like parents watching over their kids, but because there were so many things wrong with this observation, no one noticed.

Tsukasa calmed down after a while and the girls unpacked the rest of Yutaka's stuff before decorating her room a little. Afterward, they left Yutaka alone to settle down and went back to Konata's room.

"Ehehe~, that was nice. I like Yutaka-chan already."

"You sure switch gears fast, sis."

"Yeah, remembering your complaining earlier, you sure are happy now."

"Ah! Right… I was supposed to be stressed, wasn't I?"

"Yu-chan sure is effective, huh?"

"Yes… Speaking of which, does she know about you and onee-chan already?"

"No, she doesn't."

"Really? Why not?"

"Well… She seems so innocent that I have absolutely no idea how I should tell her about it… A gentle approach would be the best, but I'm not good with 'gentle'…"

"Absolutely."

"That's true."

"Oi! It's one thing if I say that, but…" Konata didn't disagree with them, but she still didn't like it. "Anyway, I'm sure it's not going to be a problem, but… I think it's going to be extremely embarrassing, though…"

"There's also the thing that Kona enjoys testing how far she can go before Yutaka starts to ask questions…"

"Ah, I see…" Tsukasa looked like she understood everything now.

"W-Well… I'll properly tell her before it gets too complicated and if she asks us before it, I'll not lie to her."

"Okay… Well, no matter how innocent she is, knowing you two… I give it two weeks before she notices."

"You totally have no faith in us at all, do you, Tsukasa?"

"Kona-chan, I added 13 days for her innocence…"

"You sure can be savage... No wonder you're Kagamin~'s sister."

"Ehehe~." Tsukasa took it as a compliment. "Anyway, I guess I'll go now. Originally, I just wanted to give Kona-chan the candy I made and then head over to Yuki-chan's place…"

"Oho, after earlier, does that mean we're going to see some progress now?" Konata was looking forward to an aggressive Tsukasa.

"I think that's a little early, Kona-chan… Having a plan first would probably better that doing something without thinking at all…"

"Haa…" Konata sighed deeply, but said nothing more because it was too troublesome and she got slightly irritated.

…..

Tsukasa arrived at Miyuki's place and the door promptly opened after waiting a couple seconds.

"Welcome, Tsukasa-san."

"I'm here, Yuki-ch… What happened to your hand?!" Tsukasa hadn't even her greeting when she noticed that Miyuki's hand was wrapped in a bandage.

"Ahaha, so you noticed, huh?"

"Of course! Did you hurt yourself?"

"Let's go to my room first, okay?" Miyuki closed the door behind Tsukasa and the two went to her room.

"So?"

"Well… It's a rather embarrassing story if I may say so myself… Especially when you're the one asking, Tsukasa-san…"

"Come one, I won't stop worrying until you tell me."

"… I tried to make candy for White Day on my own, but did you know that you need a high amount of thermal energy to melt sugar?"

"Uhm…"

"It's hot." She simplified it.

"Y-You burned yourself with the melted sugar?! Are you alright? That stuff's really nasty…"

"No, it's not that bad. Luckily, I reacted quite fast and it only left a slight irritation and reddening behind on my skin. Although, it stings quite bad when I accidentally hit something with my hand and thus, the bandage."

"I'm glad. Well, it's still not nice, but melted sugar can end up being way worse after all."

"Yes, I was indeed lucky. But, I'm sorry I couldn't finish the candies for you and had to buy some normal ones, Tsukasa-san…"

"No! Don't worry about it! If anything, I'm really happy you tried your best for me."

"Still…" She felt bad about it.

"It's okay, Yuki-chan. It's the thought that counts. I don't care what type of candy it is as long as you thought about me while getting it."

"Yes, I definitely did that."

"I'm happy then. In the first place, I should be the one feeling bad anyway. I'm the reason you hurt yourself, am I not?" Tsukasa felt responsible that Miyuki got hurt while doing something for her.

"That's not true at all!" She denied it with all her might.

"But… Can I still take care of your hand a bit?" She wanted to relieve the feeling of guilt a little.

"Sure… I guess? I wanted to apply new burn ointment soon anyway…"

"Could I do that?"

"Okay, I don't really mind." She gave her consent and Tsukasa began to gently unwrap the bandage around Miyuki's hand. Then, she applied the ointment and carefully spread it over the reddened parts of her skin, but Miyuki still flinched a little.

"I'm sorry, did I hurt you?!" She became startled at the sudden flinching of her.

"N-No… It didn't hurt…" Miyuki's cheeks became flushed when Tsukasa was applying the ointment and this reaction had a good reason. "A-Actually… It felt good…"

"R-Really?" She had difficulties to stay calm. Because Miyuki seemed to like it, Tsukasa continued or rather, started to massage her hand. A couple minutes passed and when Tsukasa started to feel that holding back was becoming hard, she managed to stop herself and wrapped a new bandage around Miyuki's hand. The extremely flustered girl in question looked disappointed for a moment, but she was relieved at the same time.

"T-Thank you very much, Tsukasa-san…"

"Y-You're welcome…" Another minute passed and Miyuki finally stopped looking at her hand again.

"Is it okay if we do a little of our homework?" She wanted to change the topic and doing homework calms her down.

"Sure… I won't be of any help… More like I'll be needing yours, but we can do that…"

"Feel free to ask me anything."

….

Almost an hour passed and Miyuki was still diligently working on her homework. Tsukasa had left the room a little while ago because she had to use the toilet, but just came back.

"Yuuukiii-chaaan~…" She sounded a bit moody, went behind Miyuki and suddenly hugged her.

"Eh?! T-Tsukasa-san?!" Because she was so absorbed in her homework and hadn't noticed her because of that, she was twice as bewildered as usual.

"Let's do something else already~." The last hour wasn't fun at all for her and Tsukasa wanted to end the homework session. While thinking about a way to do so, she remembered what Konata always used to do with her sister and decided to give it a try. She didn't have to fear any copyright infractions because Konata had long given up on the sacred art of hugging her tsundere in order to get her flustered and distracted because it had no use anymore.

"Huh? W-What? Do you have a suggestion?" The Konata method was very effective on an unaccustomed target.

"Anything's better than that~… Let's just talk some more." Tsukasa increased the grip around Miyuki's neck she was hugging from behind and quickly got her will.

"O-Okay… I-Is there a specific topic you want to talk about…?"

"Hmm…" Tsukasa let go of her for the time being and sat down next to her. "Oh, I went to Kona-chan's place before coming here and saw her cousin, Yutaka-chan, for the first time." She voiced out the first conversation topic she thought of. "She just moved in there and's going to our school next month."

"Oh, is that so? How is she like?"

"She's an incredibly nice girl… Wait, Minami-chan's also coming to our school next month, right?"

"Yes, she passed the entrance exam last month and decided to go there. Why?"

"Wouldn't it be nice for them to become friends?"

"Now that you mention it, that certainly would be nice. Hmm… Minami-san said she met a nice girl at her entrance exam back then. It would be three already then."

"Oh, what's her name?"

"She actually forgot to ask…"

"What's with that?"

"Apparently, she's a timid girl who looks like she's rather weak and tends to get sick often. Also, she's so small that Minami-san first thought she's the little sister of someone who's taking the entrance exam."

"Heh~… Wait, what?" Tsukasa looked surprised all of a sudden.

"What's wrong?"

"No… It's only that you just described Yutaka-chan…"

"Really?"

"Yes. I mean, she's even smaller than Kona-chan."

"Hmm… It can't be, can it…?"

"There's no way, right? How small are the chances for that?" Tsukasa was sure that the world isn't _that_ small.

"That's true… Still, we're going to be third years next month, huh?"

"Yeah… That also means new class rosters… I hope we're in the same class this year as well, Yuki-chan."

"Me too, and it would also be nice if all four of us could be together in our last year.

"That would be great. Onee-chan was pretty unlucky this year. Although, I guess she would be happy enough already if she's in the same class as Kona-chan."

"That's indeed true. But, being third years also means a lot of learning for college entrance exams."

"Yeah…" Tsukasa didn't sound happy. "I'm not really confident about that… Even if I possibly don't go to college, I still need to learn almost the same…"

"The confectioner school also asks for skill in other fields, right?"

"Yes, it's less than for a normal college with a dedicated confectioner course, but you still need good grades to be accepted…"

"Have you already decided whether to go to the school or the college, Tsukasa-san?"

"No, I'm still pondering between those two choices…"

"I see. Well, both have their benefits, right? College is a little more versatile, but the school goes into more details, I guess?"

"Yep, and that's exactly my problem when it comes to choosing one… You're going to the college here in Tokyo, right, Yuki-chan? To study medicine?"

"Yes, I want to become a doctor after all and the college is really good."

"That sounds nice. Although, I would probably explode if I had to learn everything you have to…"

"It is indeed much, but I'm having fun with it."

"That sounds like you, Yuki-chan. Anyway, let's change the topic. Somehow, I want to push this topic further in the future." Tsukasa didn't want to continue talking about difficult things.

"I don't mind. Besides, you're mostly done with your planning, Tsukasa-san. The fine details can wait a little longer. Okay, how does a movie sound?"

"Great idea, Yuki-chan, let's do that."

"Oh, I just remembered that we're alone… Let's watch the movie on the big TV in the living room."

"Sounds like a plan to me."

…..

The two went to the living room, sat down on the sofa and looked at the turned off TV for a while.

"I know it was my idea, but… Do you have any idea what we should watch, Tsukasa-san?"

"Hmm…" She started thinking. "How about we just switch around until we find something interesting… Can I?" Tsukasa pointed at the table where the remote was lying on.

"Go on, I don't have a better idea anyway." Miyuki agreed and Tsukasa stood up to grab the remote. When she sat down again, she, for some reason, ended up being right next to Miyuki on the sofa with little to no space at all between the two. Miyuki was a little surprised, but her smile told everything that needed to be known. Tsukasa zapped around for a while and quickly found something interesting.

"Oh, that doesn't look bad. It seems to be rather funny." She stopped at a movie that had immediately started with a joke in the beginning.

"Yes." The two settled for, what seemed to be a comedy movie and got more comfortable on the sofa.

Half an hour passed and the movie started to take a different turn. It started off as pure comedy, but it somehow changed more and more into the romance category. They didn't mind it much because it was still a good movie, though. Tsukasa actually decided to use it. She inched even closer and nestled her head into Miyuki's shoulder. Miyuki was able to read the mood and managed to stay somewhat calm. She deeply inhaled once and then rested her own head against Tsukasa's. The mood generated from the movie proceeded to affect the living room and the two continued to cuddle with each other. Miyuki was blushing rather strong and Tsukasa as well, had a red tint on her cheeks, but it somehow didn't feel awkward at all.

Another 30 minutes passed and the mood had improved even further. Miyuki and Tsukasa had nestled stronger together on the sofa again and at some point, they even started holding hands with intertwined fingers as the two were completely absorbed in the movie. Traces of the initial comedy were nowhere to be found for quite a while already anymore and the romance was about to reach its peak as well. The director decided to end his movie with a passionate kissing scene full of affection for each other. Two girls were watching said scene with great attention and interest right now while their faces heated up more and more with every passing second. Tsukasa took a quick peek at Miyuki and instantly froze up. Seeing her intently watching the kissing scene on the TV with a deep red blush on her _perfect_ cheeks was more than enough to completely mesmerize Tsukasa. Then, she looked at their intertwined, yet relaxed hands and realized how close they actually were. Her own face burned up even more. Miyuki slowly began to feel the heat that wasn't radiating from her own face and slowly turned her head to look at the girl beside her. Their gazes met and just like Tsukasa before, Miyuki also froze up when she saw her.

The two looked into each other's eyes for a solid minute before Tsukasa's expression suddenly changed into something Miyuki had never seen on her. Without looking away, Tsukasa started to move forward and closed her eyes. Not even understanding why, Miyuki also closed her eyes on reflex and the next thing she realized was that she felt something indescribable soft on her lips. She instinctively knew what was going on and her mind went completely blank. An eternity, in Miyuki's eyes, passed, though it was only a couple seconds in reality, but she had completely lost her sense of time in the progress. Tsukasa parted again and shyly looked away once she regained her senses and realized what she just did. Miyuki, on the other hand, continued to absentmindedly stare in the same direction without even blinking. After a while, she placed two fingers on her smiling lips to feel the lingering sensation of the kiss she had just shared with Tsukasa.

* * *

.

The chapter was a little on the short side, but I just had to end there. It's a nice cliffhanger, isn't it? To make it even better, the next chapter (probably) isn't going to be about Tsukasa and Miyuki. Sorry.

So much for making a plan first, Tsukasa. Konata will be proud, though.

I think I have to step up my game with Konata and Kagami though… Even though the kiss here wasn't as much described as the first one of them, I somehow like the first real kiss of Tsukasa and Miyuki more. It just felt more natural… That being said, Konami's still best couple. (I may have developed a slight crush on Tsukasa, though… She's way too adorable.)

It's finally the time for becoming third years in the next chapter… What a long ride. That also mean we're probably getting more of Yutaka and co. now. To make up for the shortness of this chapter, I'll try my best to get another one ready this month.


	33. Advancing a year

"WHYYYY?!" Even though the main hallway of the school was currently packed with students, Kagami's tearful scream was still clearly heard by every single one of them as she dramatically sunk down on all fours to the floor. Konata, Miyuki, Tsukasa, and the devastated Kagami were looking at the newly published class rosters for the third-year students together one of them especially didn't like what they were seeing. There was sadly next to no change in the rosters and so, Kagami had to spend her last year separated from her friends as well.

"E-Ehm…" Konata was having an equally hard time. For an entirely different reason, though. She wasn't sure if she should feel sorry or start laughing because the scene Kagami was doing right now was way too funny. For the sake of her relationship… and well-being, she chose the safe option. "N-Now, now, Kagamin~, it's not that important, is it? It doesn't make much of a difference anyway."

"T-That's right, onee-chan, it's not like we can chat much with each other outside of our brakes in the first place and there you can come over anyway…"

"Indeed. There are also still our electives where we're together, Kagami-san." Tsukasa and Miyuki also did their best in order to cheer her up.

"Thanks, girls… I get what you all mean… Still, it's really not fair, but there's nothing I can do, I guess…" Kagami accepted her fate with downcast eyes and slowly walked away from the place.

….

Despite accepting it, Kagami was still rather depressed for the rest of the day and wanted to be alone. So, after school, she decided to hole herself up in her room at home.

Konata, having some time on her hand because of that, decided to use it wisely and started up her PC. Login in into her favorite online game, she quickly found someone to play, or rather, to chat with.

 **KonaKona** : Sensei! o/

 **Nanakon** : Izumi? Gotten furlough for today? It became rather rare for you to be here.

 **KonaKona** : Haha. Kagami's just a little depressed and wanted to be alone.

 **Nanakon** : Eh? What did you do again?

 **KonaKona** : Oi!

 **KonaKona** : If anything, it's your fault, sensei!

 **Nanakon** : Eh?

 **KonaKona** : She probably thinks you hate her…

 **Nanakon** : What?

 **KonaKona** : Well, she wanted to be in the same class as the rest of us, after all.

 **Nanakon** : Ah, I see…

 **KonaKona** : So?

 **Nanakon** : No, I obviously don't hate her. I did it for the sake of the two of you.

 **KonaKona** : Huh?

 **Nanakon** : As if you two stupid lovebirds would be able to concentrate for even 5 mins when put together in the same class…

 **KonaKona** : -.-

 **Nanakon** : Am I wrong?

 **KonaKona** : I exercise my right to remain silent.

 **Nanakon** : It's not I need an answer in the first place.

 **Nanakon** : It's great how your grades have improved so much thanks to her, but yours, and especially Hiiragi's grades would definitely suffer if put together in the same class.

 **KonaKona** : Wow, that sounded pretty sensei-like.

 **Nanakon** : I am a teacher!

 **KonaKona** : Oh, right…

 **Nanakon** : I'll hit you.

 **KonaKona** : That doesn't sound very sensei-like. Well… maybe Kuroi-sensei-like.

 **Nanakon** : I hope you look forward to school tomorrow.

 **KonaKona** : Always~

Afterward, the two played for about an hour until Konata heard a knock on her door.

"Konata-oneechan?"

"Oh, Yu-chan, welcome back. How was your first day?"

"I found her!"

"Come again?" Konata had no idea what the current high tension Yutaka was talking about.

"The girl from the entrance exam! I was finally able to see her again!"

"Hmm? Oh, the handkerchief girl?" Konata finally understood what she was talking about.

"Yes! I told you she passed and would've to our school!"

"Yes, yes, good for you, Yu-chan… And, did you two become friends?"

"I think so. Iwasaki-san's a really nice girl, just like I thought. She even volunteered to be the health representative because she remembered me. Well, I ended up becoming the class representative because of that, though."

"Heh~? Sounds like a hassl- I-I mean, that sounds nice." Konata voiced her real feelings, but somehow managed to correct herself.

"I think it'll be fun."

"She her name's Iwasaki, huh?"

"Yes, Iwasaki Minami-san."

"Minami… Minami… I have the feeling I heard that name somewhere before…"

"Eh? Do you know her, Konata-oneechan?"

"I'm fairly sure I don't, but I think someone mentioned that name before… Well, whatever, it's not that important, is it? I'll probably see her soon enough, I guess."

"That's true."

…..

Two weeks passed since Yutaka entered Konata and co.'s school, but everything she's talking about still had something to do with Minami in 97% of all her stories. Konata soon started to become slightly tired of it. Because of that, she started to ask Yutaka about the other friend she mentioned making a week ago.

"So, what's this Hiyori like?"

"Tamura-san? Well… She's nice, but I don't really understand her…"

"What's that about?"

"She talks a bit like you, Konata-oneechan, and I often don't understand the things you say as well…"

"Ah… So she likes manga and anime, huh?" She had a vague idea what Yutaka meant.

"Yes, and she even draws her own mangas."

"Hoh? What kind of things does she draw?"

"I don't know. For some reason, Tamura-san really doesn't want to show them to me…"

"Is that so? I see, I see…" Konata already had a very good idea on why and became a little interested in Hiyori. "She sounds like a fun person. I kind of want to see her, and Minami as well."

"Hmm… Oh, we wanted to go flower viewing next weekend. I think you could join us if you want, Konata-oneechan."

"Our group, Kagamin~ and co., wanted to do the same… Ah, I know, let's all go together. No one on our side would probably mind."

"I have to ask the others first, but I think that's a very nice idea. Do you perhaps have a place where we can all go to, Konata-oneechan? Most places are pretty packed, after all…"

"The place where we went last year was really nice and we were completely on our own. Even if there are people, I still have a plan to get rid of them that I couldn't try last year…"

"K-Konata-oneechan… Your face looks pretty scary…"

"Ah… S-Sorry, don't mind me."

"Okay…?"

….

The next weekend arrived and both had agreed to have their flower viewing together. The more the merrier was their collective answer. They had split the parts on who has to prepare what around the groups and everyone was looking forward to it. Due to it being a weekend, Kagami was already at Konata's place long before they decided to meet up.

"Flower viewing, huh? That sure brings back memories…" Kagami started reminiscing about the last time with a nice smile on her lips. "I can't believe it's already been a year since I fell in love with you, Kona…"

"You said that before, didn't you? That it happened on the flower viewing last year."

"Yeah… I saw you peacefully sleeping while leaning against that beautiful cherry tree and something just… clicked. I guess that's also why I took a nap next to you back then… Even though I had no idea at that time, that surely was the point where I fell for you."

"Haha. The cute me is irresistible when asleep, huh?" Konata sounded pretty self-confident.

"Yeah, you are fairly cute when _sleeping_." Kagami, on the other hand, looked more smug, rather than confident.

"Hey, what's with that weird emphasis on the word 'sleeping'?"

"Ehehe~."

"Haa, I really miss the times when you just started blushing, Kagamin~."

"Do you now?"

"Well… occasionally…" While Konata does miss the old, easily flustered tsundere, she equally loves the current, more confident Kagami that has no problems in getting the upper hand over her a lot of times.

The two kept bickering, or rather, flirting for quite a while until Tsukasa suddenly arrived a little later.

"Hey, you two, I hope I'm not interrupting or anything…" Tsukasa entered Konata's room and didn't fail to notice the atmosphere.

"Oh, hey, sis…? Nah, it's fine, but… What are you doing here?"

"I remembered last year and there's no way I'm able to find Kona-chan's flower viewing on my own. Because I'm bored, I decided to come over a little early and spend some time with the two of you…"

"I see, but why aren't you spending the day with Miyuki?"

"Ah… w-well, that's…" Tsukasa suddenly turned red and started fidgeting.

"Hoh~?" Konata noticed the sudden change and immediately became interested.

"I-It's a little awkward between Yuki-chan and me lately… That's why we aren't seeing each other as much as before lately…"

"What happened?"

"I-I kind of… kissed her again…"

"Oh, good for you." Konata sounded rather indifferent. It wasn't the first time Tsukasa said it, after all.

"Her lips were so soft…" Tsukasa accidentally remembered the feeling and muttered something completely out of place.

"That's nice… Wait, what?!" It took her a second before Konata noticed that Tsukasa had managed to trip her off her feet once more.

"Sis, I think we need a few more details."

"It happened on White Day… We watched a movie together that ended up being a romance. The mood became rather… good and we cuddled a little. Then, there was a kissing scene in the movie… I looked at Yuki-chan… She was pretty embarrassed… She looked at me as well a little later and I… just kissed her without thinking then…"

"Oh~, your sister's pretty good, Kagamin~." Konata was pretty impressed by Tsukasa's boldness.

"While I'm inclined to agree with you, Kona, don't you can feel the 'but'?"

"Ah, right, there's always a but, huh?"

"So, what's the problem, sis?"

"W-Well… I kissed her, but that's all that happened… We finished the rest of the movie and the day ended without any meaningful conversation at all. The next day was so awkward that we couldn't even look at each other and we haven't talked about the kiss till today…"

"I'm sorry, Kagamin~, I was wrong… Your sister's completely useless…"

"Yeah…" Kagami could only agree with her. It was pretty harsh, but saying otherwise was simply not possible.

"I-I'm very sorry…"

"Seriously though, Tsukasa, get a grip!"

"Y-Yes…"

"I mean, what the hell is wrong with you?! Make it official already and stop beating around the bush!" Konata became slightly angry at Tsukasa.

"I…"

"I don't even get the problem… Is there even one?"

"I'm very sorry…" She apologized again. "I'll do my best to get rid of the awkwardness again…"

"You know what… Golden Week starts in a little over a week, right? I give you until that and if you aren't together once Golden Week's over, I'll take care of it myself and I'm going to have a talk with Miyuki. I know Kagamin~ and I were a total pain back then as well, but you two are just… argh!" Konata got frustrated by just thinking about them lately.

"P-Please don't do that, Kona-chan. I promise that I'll have a proper talk with Yuki-chan."

"Good."

…..

Konata cooled down soon enough and the conversation came to a close. The time for them leaving for the flower viewing was also approaching. The girls started packing the things they prepared, the three were in charge of the food and bringing a blanket, and were about to leave.

"Wait, where's Yutaka-chan?"

"Ah, she went to her friend's place in the morning. She's coming together with her to the place later."

"Oh, I see." Having cleared that, they finally left Konata's house.

The three arrived at the meadow with the little river and the beautiful cherry blossom tree in full bloom and were once again stunned.

"Wow~, it looks even better than in my memories…"

"Yeah, it's easily my favorite place, especially the tree, right, Kagamin~?"

"Yes~." The couple like the place for their very own reason.

"Let's get ready then." The girls walked towards the tree and spread out a huge blanket on the grass right under it and took out some of the food they brought with them. When they were about to sit down, Konata noticed a group of girls walking towards them. Looking more closely, she recognized that it was Miyuki, Yutaka, and another girl.

"Eh? Why's Yu-chan coming with Miyuki?"

"Huh? Why's Minami-chan here?" Tsukasa recognized the third girl and was surprised.

"You know her, sis?"

"Yes, Minami-chan's the childhood friend of Yuki-chan. I told you before, didn't I?"

"Ah! That's why I felt like I knew her name from somewhere." Konata hit the palm of her hand with her fist as the mystery got solved. "What a small world we live in."

"So, it really was Yutaka-chan who Minami-chan was talking to Yuki-chan about… What a small world indeed."

"Konata-oneechan!" Yutaka spotted her and started energetically waving towards her direction before picking up speed.

"Yu-chan, welcome."

"Wow, this place is so beautiful." She stopped right before Konata and praised the location.

"I know~, I know~. Anyway, who might this girl next to you be?" She suddenly switched to a formal voice. It seemed like she was having fun already.

"Ah, this is Iwasaki-san, Konata-oneechan."

"So this is the rumored girl, huh? Good day, Iwasaki-san, I'm pleased to meet you. My name's Izumi Konata and thank you for always taking care of my Yu-chan. I heard that you're always a great help to her."

"G-Good day to you as well, Izumi-senpai. I was looking forward to meeting you after Kobayakawa-san told me so many good things about you." Not knowing how to handle Konata, Minami also started using polite language. "My name's Iwasaki Minami and on the contrary, I've been in the care of Kobayakawa-san ever since we entered the school together."

"My dear Yu-chan also told me a lot about you and I'm very happy to… Ouch!" Konata suddenly squatted down and started rubbing her head in agony with a tear in her eye.

"Are you her father or what?! Stop talking like that already!"

"K-Kagamin~, that was absolutely not necessary!"

"Want another one?" She raised her fist again.

"No, I'm fine… Ahaha, I was just messing with you a little, Minami, just 'Konata' is totally fine by me, you know?"

"I-I see, Konata-senpai…" Minami looked a bit troubled.

"Don't worry, I only heard good things about you from Yu-chan, but…" Konata circled around her once while checking her out. "It's fine, there's also demand for girls like us." Konata stared at a very specific part of Minami's body who directly covered her chest with her hands.

"H-How?" She looked flustered and wanted to know how Konata immediately found out about her biggest weakness.

"Intuition~. Still, it must've been hard growing up together with… that…" Konata pointed at Miyuki.

"Yes…" She gave a short answer together with a small nod.

"Like I said, though, worry not too much about it. Isn't that right, Kagamin~?"

"Let me stay out of this, Kona." Kagami only showed her fist to her again.

While they were having their slightly questionable conversation, another girl showed up.

….

"Ah, Tamura-san, welcome." Yutaka was the first who noticed her. "I'm glad you found it. It's pretty remote after all."

"No, I had no problem finding it. After all, I know this place already."

"From 2D or 3D?" Konata let out a chuckle while asking because she's the one who suggested the place after seeing it in an anime.

"You shouldn't worry about such small and irrelevant details, senpai."

"Hah, she's great! I'm Izumi Konata, the cousin of Yu-chan."

"Tamura Hiyori, nice to meet you." After the two had a flying start, the remaining members of the groups introduced each other and everyone except Hiyori, Konata, and Kagami sat down under the tree on the blanket. The group of three continued to chat with a little distance from the rest.

"Hmm…" Konata suddenly seemed to be lost in thoughts while looking at Hiyori.

"You're the one who suggested this place, right, Konata-senpai? That means you're a comrade, am I right?"

"That's for sure… Hmm…" She continued to stare after giving her answer.

"I-Is there something wrong?"

"Do I know you from somewhere?" Konata had a strange feeling of déjà-vu again because she felt like this wasn't their first meeting.

"I'm not completely sure, but I don't think so, Konata-senpai."

"Hmm… No, I'm sure we met before… Ah! Last Comiket! You had your own stand and I bought a ton of your works!"

"Yes, I was there and now that you mention it… I think I'm starting to remember you seeing there. Thanks for your patronage, Konata-senpai."

"You're welcome. Your works are really good after all. Kagamin~, she's the one who drew the mangas I showed you after New Year's Eve."

"What are you… Ah!" Kagami seemed to remember because her face suddenly started to turn red.

"Y-You showed _them_ to a normie?!" Hiyori began to panic when she saw Kagami's embarrassed reaction.

"Don't worry, she may not look like it, but Kagamin~'s actually a closet otaku."

"Really? Wow, that's pretty cool."

"Oi, Kona! Don't tell that to people I for the first time!"

"That's the problem?" Konata wasn't sure if that's really what Kagami wanted to say.

"Wha-?! I-I mean, I'm not an otaku!" Although she was a little late, she _corrected_ herself.

"Heh~." Konata developed a big grin on her face.

"Shut up, idiot!" She formed her hand into a fist

"Is she a tsundere, Konata-senpai?" As expected of a fellow otaku, Hiyori's observation skills were quite good.

"I'm not a tsundere!" Kagami wasn't helping herself.

"She's a little difficult when it comes to that…"

"Eh? She either is one or is not… or am I wrong?" The two skillfully ignored Kagami's complaints.

"She's occasionally one…? Lately, she's in permanent dere mode. The last time she went into full tsun… Ouch!" Konata, once more, squatted down on the spot while holding her head.

"I'll hit you!"

"Y-You just did, Kagamin~…" Konata complained about the order of her actions.

"If that's here dere mode… I'm not sure if I want to see the tsun Kagami-senpai…" Hiyori had her doubts about Konata unlocking her dere side.

"You want a try?" Kagami pointed her fist at Hiyori this time.

"N-No, I'm good for today."

"She's just a little shy~." While making her statement, Konata tightly hugged Kagami and rubbed her head against her shoulder.

"…. Kona?" It took her a while before she realized that it was neither the time, nor the right place for a hug, but Kagami still only gave a weak reaction afterward.

"Hmm?"

"Could you let go for the time being? We're in the middle of a conversation right now."

"Sure~."

"Thanks."

"See what I mean, Hiyori?" Konata gestured at the perfectly unflustered Kagami next to her.

"Yes, I DO see. Thank you very much for the meal, senpai." Hiyori looked delighted and started drawing something into a sketchbook she seemingly had produced out of thin air. Konata took a look at said sketchbook and started smiling

"Oh, I want a copy of that later on."

"Really? Okay, sure."

"Copy of what?"

"Nothing~." The two immediately played innocent after hearing Kagami's question.

"By the way, Konata-senpai, how do you like the new anime season?" She changed the topic away from her drawings.

"Hmm… It just started this month, but it certainly looks promising… Definitely way better than last season already."

"Yeah, last season was rather weak. Oh, have you seen the latest episode of ***** on Thursday evening?"

"Of course I did! I think it's time I already have two solid ships after just three episodes."

"Let me guess, one of them is Hiiro-kun and Satoshi-kun, right?"

"That so is the otp of everyone, even on the net, huh? But yeah, they're great. The other pairing definitely is Yui and Arisa."

"Yeah, that's true… Wait, what? Arisa?! No way! It's absolutely Yui and Kurumi!" Hiyori didn't agree with Konata's second ship.

"Kurumi, huh? I thought you watched the last episode, Hiyori? I agree that there were some nice scenes between the two, especially in the second episode, but Kurumi never had a chance against Arisa. She made her victory clear in the third episode and the scene after the ending song basically made them canon already."

"Yeah… Episode three definitely was an Arisa episode, but… Wait… There was a scene after the ending song?! I was a bit in a rush because I forgot about a deadline and had to stop watching once the song started…"

"Wow, you missed something great. The scene showed what happened when the girls group was sleeping in Yui's room. Arisa went to the bathroom and when she came back, she accidentally entered Yui's futon and woke her up. Yui just looked at her and pulled her closer. They didn't show it, but the camera angle definitely suggested that they had kissed before falling asleep. The scene ended directly afterward while showing a total of their embrace with a smile on their lips."

"W-What?! No, that didn't happen…"

"Of course it did, You have no idea how much my inner fangirl was screaming~."

"No way… Another case where the childhood friend lost, huh? Man, they should just stop with the childhood trope if they lose anyway. It's way too painful to watch…"

"Yeah, I had my fair share of grief because of that as well… But this time I shipped Arisa from the very beginning because she's just way too cute. Wait… Aren't Hiiro and Satoshi also childhood friends?"

"Oh, you're right… They're also super cute together… Okay, I'll let you have your Yui and Arisa ship, Konata-senpai."

"Hehe."

"Heh~, looks like you're having fun, Kona…" Kagami's words didn't sound harmful, but one look at her made clear that Konata had a problem. Her eyes didn't look friendly at all and her puffed out cheeks, although very cute, underlined her sulking even more.

"I-It's okay, Kagamin~." She noticed that Kagami got a bit jealous and decided to include her in the conversation. "Sorry, Hiyori, Kagamin~'s more of a light novel fan. She's probably a little bored by our conversation…"

"No problem. Light novels, huh? Hmm… They're not my number one, but I do read quite a lot of them…"

"Really?" Kagami instantly recovered and seemed happy to have found someone who shares her hobby. Konata's a lost cause in that regard after all. "What do you read, Hiyori?"

"Let me think… Oh, I'm pretty absorbed in the yuri novel 'Childhood's autumn and a new spring'. I just love it." Hiyori mentioned the name of her favorite novel and all color left Kagami's face. Konata, noticing her change, thought about the title again and her eyes suddenly grew wide. It isn't the first time she heard that name. She leaned over to Kagami and started whispering.

"Hey, Kagamin~, isn't that…"

"Yes… It's the series of your father…" She wasn't expecting that.

"Ahaha~." Konata had a great time.

"It's so great that there's a long, still ongoing yuri novel out there. The characters are also all really good and well written. The main childhood pair is so adorable. Oh, but the tsundere and 'my pace' otaku couple that just got its own dedicated volume is simply the best." While Hiyori was talking in great length and detail about her favorite couple, Konata had yet another feeling of déjà-vu because it sounded strangely familiar for some reason. The more she heard from Hiyori, the stronger the stare she was directing at Kagami got. Beads of sweat started to form on Kagami's forehead and she was unable Konata anymore. "Best of all, despite it not being an 18+ novel, it was super juicy." Hiyori finished her explanation and Kagami's face was beet red by now. Konata's piercing stare wasn't helping her at all either.

"E-Ehm…" Kagami was too flustered to get any meaningful words out of her.

"Ah… I did it again…" Hiyori noticed her expression. "I'm very sorry, Kagami-senpai, I got a little overexcited. You probably don't even like the yuri genre, do you? It's kind of an 'advanced' genre after all…"

"N-No, it's not that. It's just… You see, the author 'Jiroso', Kona and I know him, like, personally…"

"Seriously?" It was Konata who answered. "He just swapped a syllable of his name? How lazy can he get?"

"Really? That's awesome! Who is he?"

"I call him 'dad' most of the time…"

"He's your father, Konata-senpai? How cool is that?"

"I wonder about that right now…" Konata was still a bit distracted about the strangely resembling couple Hiyori had just described out of the light novel from her father.

"Okay… By the way, why's Kagami-senpai so flustered?"

"Uh… Multiple, very difficult reasons… One of them is, Kagamin~ doesn't just know my father, the author, she's something like a co-author or rather, editor of the series for quite some time already."

"W-What?! You're really contributing to a serialized work? Can I call you Kagami-sensei from now on?" Hiyori was really surprised and impressed by Kagami's involvement in the light novel.

"I would prefer if you don't… It's not like I was planning on doing so. It just kind of happened and some _circumstances_ led me to get even more involved in it…"

"Heh~? That's still super awesome! So, what's the favorite couple of an insider?"

"It's the same as yours. The childhood couple is great and got me interested in the novel in the first place, but the reversal the 'tsundere' in the current volume pulled off was just too awesome. It's so amusing how she managed to turn the tables after they got together and the reactions of her girlfriend when she gets cornered are sooo adorable." Kagami got a little too into it and Konata only rolled her eyes. She said nothing, but her facial expression clearly indicated that she had mixed feelings about the whole thing.

"Wow, you have a great taste, Kagami-senpai. The slight S-tendencies are also a perfect fit for her character."

"Ahaha…" Now even Kagami could only let out nothing more than a dry laugh.

"Anyway, to the important part. Kagami-senpai, what's going to happen in the next volume? I'm sure you already know a thing or two, right? I really hate to wait for things I like…"

"Well, sure, I know the concept of the next two volumes even and I read a rough draft of the next one, but no, I'm not going to tell you anything." Major spoilers are one of the worst things that can happen to unpublished works after all and so, Kagami obviously had to stay silent.

"Aww… Not even a little hint about our favorite couple?"

"Yeah, what's going to happen to our favorite couple in the future, Kagamin~?" Konata still had not much of an idea what's inside the novel, but her interest in the mentioned couple was because of something entire else anyway. The couple in question had way too many similarities with the real world Kagami and Konata and she's going to have a lot of questions for Kagami soon enough.

"W-Well…" Kagami realized she was in a pinch with the main reason being Konata's question, which had quite a bit of depth to it. "I can't say anything specific, but in my personal opinion, I'm sure they'll be happy together until the very end."

"Smooth one, Kagamin~."

"Long term couple, huh? Those are my favorites. I hope the author listens to your ideas, Kagami-senpai."

"He's a bit whimsical when it comes to that… He only occasionally listens when he likes what he hears, but that kind of runs in the family…"

"Sounds like you have a fair share of problems… Anyway, it's the best to have found two like-minded people here. Otakus are often so halfhearted nowadays…"

"Like I said, I'm not an otaku!" Kagami got angry again.

"Ehm… Kagami-senpai, Konata-senpai loves and collects anime and manga related things, but you, besides loving light novels, are even actively working on a serialized and rather popular light novel. If I had to choose who's more invested in the whole scene, it would be you, Kagami-senpai."

"W-W-What?!" One could even hear Kagami's world shattering. "Hahaha~. You shouldn't make jokes like that, Tamura-san." Something inside her snapped and Hiyori retreated two steps.

"N-No, now, calm down, Kagamin~…" Konata hugged her from the side again and the menacing aura instantly vanished again. "She's a bit hard to handle at the beginning, but once you get to know her better, you'll see that Kagamin~'s simply the best, Hiyori. There's no need to be scared."

"Yes, you're right, this IS the best." She made a totally recover and somewhat agreed with Konata, but she focused more on the whole picture in front of her. While she was looking at Konata and Kagami hugging, her sketchbook appeared again and she concentrated on that for the time being.

"So, now that she's busy, Kagamin~…" Konata started whispering. "Is there maybe something you want to tell me?"

"I have no idea what you mean." Kagami tried playing innocent.

"You know that you're as bad as I am when it comes to lying right?"

"I'm not that bad, okay? Whatever, it's about your father novel, huh?"

"Yeah, what's up with this strangely familiar sounding couple Hiyori and you were talking about?"

"Ahaha, I actually kind of forgot to tell you about it because it's kind of embarrassing, but I don't think you want to know anyway, Kona…"

"Ehehe, I think I do." Konata had a different opinion about the topic. "I thought he wasn't using our story in his book?"

"Yeah, that was back then… Once we came out and were more open about it at your home, though… Well, he added another pairing to his cast and dedicated a whole volume to them…"

"Seriously?! Why didn't you stop him?"

"Don't you think I did?"

"It doesn't sound like it…"

"Kona… He wanted to ask his publisher whether it's okay to change the age rating for the volume or not…"

"Kagamin~?"

"Yes?"

"I love you."

"I know~. Seriously, though, if you compare the initial draft with the finished novel, you can see that I kicked his rear multiple times…"

"That's good, makes it easier to tear him a new one." Konata wasn't planning on letting her father get out of it easily.

"Feel free. Well, the volume turned out to be rather cute, though."

"That's good… I guess?" Konata actually wasn't that angry that her father used the relationship of the two as an inspiration for his novel, but it somehow left a bad taste behind that he never asked her. Kagami restraining him with all her might, probably saved his life, though.

While the two were having their own conversation, Hiyori finished her drawing and started to look towards the group of Miyuki, Tsukasa, Minami, and Yutaka who were sitting on the blanket under the tree. Two girls, in particular, caught her interest.

"Hey, Konata-senpai, about Minami-san and Yutaka-san…" Hiyori pointed at the two who were currently happily chatting with each other while snacking on something. "Aren't they kind of cute together?"

"Hmm…" Konata looked at them, but then sighed. "Haa… I understand where you're coming from, Hiyori, but I'm a little tired of them already…"

"What happened?"

"You see, whenever Yu-chan starts talking about school at home, it's always 'Iwasaki-san this', 'Iwasaki-san that', and so on…"

"Heh~?"

"I'm happy that she found a friend she's that attached to, but it started to get a tiny bit annoying at home, especially if I want to be al… Nevermind…" Konata stopped herself from finishing her sentence and looked at Kagami. In short, the quality time of the two took quite a blow thanks to the heroic, in Yutaka's eyes, tales of Minami.

"I see… While I get your problem, Konata-senpai, it only helps me to solve the mystery of why I always see lilies around them."

"You know, I'm always on board of a new ship, but, ignoring, that I'm slightly tired of them, I don't think there's much going on. Yu-chan tends to get sick a lot, which made it difficult to have friends. Minami's basically the first friend she got so close to. It's only natural she's over the moon right now. Like I said, I understand you, but I don't see it going that direction."

"Well, it has to start from somewhere, Konata-senpai."

"…" Konata couldn't say anything and Kagami just sighed. They wanted to retort something, but their relationship started rather innocent as well after all.

"Anyway… I'm getting hungry… I think we should join the others already, senpai." Saying so, Hiyori left the two and walked towards the group under the tree. Konata and Kagami stayed behind for now.

….

"What a fun girl." Konata had a good impression of her.

"Yeah…" Kagami looked rather displeased. "You two sure got along nicely… You have a lot in common with her…" She started sulking again.

"You are way too jealous, Kagamin~. You should be happy that you're easily cute enough to make up for it. Well, it's true, though, we are rather similar and I really enjoyed talking with her."

"I… see…" Now she was just depressed.

"Kagamin~…" Konata felt bad and grabbed her hand in a way none of the others could see. "There's absolutely nothing to worry, you know? Sure, there are probably a lot of things I can talk about with her, but even I think that talking about nothing but anime and manga all day would bore me out eventually. You're way more well-rounded, Kagamin~. You have your otaku side, whether you admit it or not, you're way cuter, more interesting, super adorable, fun to be with, and overall just perfect for me. You improved my grades, brightened up every day until now, you…"

"O-Okay, that's enough, Kona. If you say anymore, I won't be able to hold back." Kagami stopped her because she felt terribly embarrassed, along with a couple other feelings. Despite the embarrassment, she was still smiling from ear to ear.

"Haa… What am I going to do with you…?" She only joked, but actually got an answer.

"Take me on a date somewhere…" She didn't mean to say it out loud, but it was still a critical hit.

"You should be illegal, Kagamin~… You're way too cute to be allowed running around.

"S-Shut up…"

"Ehehe~. Oh, I know, besides tearing my father a new one, let's get some money out of him from the novel volume that's more or less about us and go on a weekend trip. Just the two of us."

"That's an idea I definitely wouldn't say no to, Kona."

"Good, let's do that then."

"I'm looking forward to it."

"… I know it's a little late… But weren't you getting along with Hiyori just as well as I did? I mean, you were speaking about your hobby, the light novels, as passionately as I with her. What's the reason for you to even be jealous anyway?"

"This and that are different…"

"How's that any different, Kagamin~?"

"It just is!"

"I seriously don't get girls after all…"

"Really? That again? You see, I'm not just fairly sure that you're a girl as well, I know that you're one by now. In the first place, I would be rather troubled if you weren't one…"

"Ahaha, my adorable lesbian girlfriend~."

"…" She answered nothing.

"Okay… Awkward…" It was time to stop and Konata looked around. "Wow…" She pointed at their group of friends.

"Hiyori's sure something else…" The two looked at Hiyori who was currently in front of Minami and Yutaka with her sketchbook in her hand. She was having a blast sketching the supposedly pink space around the two.

"She's pretty true to her real self. Although, that's not what I meant…" Konata directed Kagami's attention to Miyuki and Tsukasa. While the two were sitting next to each other, the atmosphere around them seemed super awkward. They were really fidgety and even had problems with looking at each other.

"Indeed… Wow." Kagami understood what she meant and facepalmed.

"Hey, hey, can I hit them?" Konata asked while cracking her knuckles. "I'll try to hold back, but I can't promise anything…"

"Calm down, Kona. I do understand you and kind of feel the same, but you gave them time until after Golden Week, right?"

"Okay, I'll hit them then…"

"Good… Probably…"

"Honestly, Kagamin~, I don't get their problem."

"Isn't it the same we had?"

"Not really… It's kind of different… We were close, fell in love without knowing the feelings of the other party and that made things awkward. Tsukasa and Miyuki went through a similar experience, except for the important part where they knew about the feelings of each other, but it still got awkward. It's almost the other way around. I mean, they knew about the feelings of the other person before the person in question knew it themselves…"

"Yeah, you're right, they don't make any sense at all… Making it awkward after being on the same page already is just stupid…"

"Youth, huh?"

"Shut up… Anyway, it's no use thinking about them as usual, Kona. Let's join them and enjoy the flower viewing already." The couple finally went to the others and sat down next to each other on the blanket as well, but Konata had to do something in order to acquire peace there first.

"Oi, Hiyorin, let it go for today. Let's take it easy now." She stopped her as she was going wild with her sketchbook and made her leave them alone.

"H-Hiyorin?" She was a little bewildered after suddenly receiving a nickname out of nowhere.

"Yep, that's what I'm going to call you from now on."

"Okay…? Well, you're right, let's enjoy the rest of the day like a normie." Hiyori agreed with taking it easy and put her sketchbook away.

The actual flower viewing finally started. The girls were happily chatting with each other and the members of the two groups started to get to know each other better. Everyone was having a great time, despite two of the girls being a little awkward, but Hiyorin wasn't able to hold her promise to stay calm. Konata wanted to tease her a little and started feeding Kagami out of nowhere. Hiyori managed to only suffer a small nosebleed, but when Yutaka tried to copy her for some reason which caused Minami, the recipient, to turn red, Hiyori finally fainted with an ecstatic smile while losing herself in some of her delusions as she mumbled some rather interesting things. The remaining flower viewing was really relaxing, though. Apart from the time where Konata was thinking whether Yutaka was really innocent or possibly pretty dangerous right after the incident with Hiyori, that is.

* * *

.

With this chapter and the flower viewing, more or less an entire year passed inside this story (Ch. 1 Teaser, ch. 2 the weeks before the flower viewing, and ch. 3 was the flower viewing last year).

I finally got our girls into their third year in high school…

Hiyori and Minami also entered the game. Well, mainly Hiyori this time… I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to with Patricia/Patty. She's more otaku than Hiyori and Konata together and I already had a bit of work with their conversation in the chapter. For now, I'm going with the excuse that this story is more based on the manga, rather than the anime. In the anime, Patty showed up at a rather similar time with the others, but in the manga, Yutaka, Minami and Hiyori were introduced in volume 2 and the first chapter with Patty was in volume 7. Also, in the manga (8. volume), Patty's living in the Izumi house as an exchange student. It's rather different from the anime. Then again, the introduction of the 'new' girls I did in this chapter was based on nothing… So… I guess, I'll probably add Patty sometime when I figured out what I'm going to do with her, but it'll take some time.

I really like Hiyori and I think I'm going to have a lot of fun with her. Poor Kagami will probably get jealous again for some reason she doesn't understand either. A girl's heart is complicated after all.

Next chapter (May/Golden Week) is, for their own safety, planned to be about Miyuki and Tsukasa again because Konata would hit them otherwise.

It's probably going to be a while till then, but I'm planning multiple things for their summer break. If you would like to see something like an event or trip, feel free to make a suggestion. As well as for the weekend trip of Konata and Kagami I mentioned in this chapter.


	34. Tackling their issue

A little time since the flower viewing passed and Golden Week had already arrived. Yutaka had invited her friends, Minami and Yutaka, over and the two just arrived at the Izumi house. Both entered and Yutaka led them to her room.

"Please make yourselves comfortable." While Yutaka said so, the three sat down at the small table in the middle of her room.

"So, this is your room, huh?" Hiyori looked around and saw the armada of plush toys. "Yep, it's exactly like I imagined it, it's very cute."

"Thank you very much, Hiyori-chan."

"By the way, is Konata-senpai not at home today?" Hiyori was wondering why she hasn't seen or heard her when she came over.

"No, she's still out."

"Where is she?"

"Onee-chan hasn't come home yesterday, but she didn't say anything…"

"Heh~? Don't tell me she has a lover?"

"E-Eh?! Onee-chan has a boyfriend?! She never told me!"

"Calm down, Yutaka… I never said she has, it was just the first thing I thought about when hearing that she spent the night somewhere."

"Oh, so that's what you meant, Hiyori-chan." Yutaka quickly calmed down and Hiyori breathed out a sigh in relief because she was tired already.

"Anyway…" She still decided to change the topic. "Ah, Minami, is it true that you have a dog as well?"

"Yes."

"Cherry-chan's super adorable! She's really big, white and incredibly fluffy!" Yutaka's answer contained more details.

"Is that so? I have a dog myself, but he's on the smaller side. Aren't big dogs rather scary?"

"Cherry's a really nice dog… She isn't scary at all." Minami's pretty fond of her dog.

"Really? I kind of want to see her now."

"Oh, let's visit Iwasaki-san together next time, Hiyori-chan You can see Cherry-chan then."

"Hmm…?" She sounded confused for a second, but agreed with Yutaka's idea. "That sounds like a good idea. Is that okay with you Minami?"

"I don't really mind. Kobayakawa-san, please tell when you and Hiyori-san are coming over, okay?"

"Sure~." Yutaka answered her, but Hiyori looked confused again. "By the way, Hiyori-chan, I asked onee-chan to show me the mangas you drew…"

"W-W-What?!" Cold sweat run through her spine as she panicked. "H-How much did you see?!"

"Onee-chan didn't want to show me for some reason she won't tell me as well. She also forbade me to look at a lot of other mangas without asking her first…"

"Thank you very much, Konata-senpai! I shouldn't have doubted you earlier!" She thanked Konata with all her heart, even though she wasn't there.

"But what are your mangas about? I'm really curious about it. Can I please see them?" Yutaka looked with big eyes at her.

"Ahaha~…" Hiyori played off her panicking with a forced laugh. "B-By the way, where is the bathroom? I kind of need…" It was a weak attempt, but thankfully, Yutaka was extremely gullible.

"Oh, go down the hallway, it's the last door on the right side."

"T-Thanks…" using her chance to escape, Hiyori swiftly left the room. Not actually needing to use the toilet, she started to think about how to get rid of the topic at hand. While having no idea at all, she suddenly heard a sound coming from the living room downstairs. Curious as she was, Hiyori went to take a look. Peeking her head inside, she was quickly greeted by someone.

"Oh, a new face, please come in." Sojiro bid her into the room.

"Ah, no, I was just wondering about the sound I heard. I'm probably interrupting you anyway, aren't I?"

"No, no, high school girl's never going to be a bother." His true feelings leaked out rather fast.

"Okay… Oh, my name's Tamura Hiyori, I'm in the same class as Yutaka."

"Thanks for always taking care of her. I'm her uncle and Konata's father, Izumi Sojiro."

"It's nice to meet you. By the way, what were you doing before I showed up, Izumi-san?" Hiyori couldn't help noticing the laptop with an opened text program on the table in front of him and became interested.

"I'm actually a light novel author and I was working on my next volume a moment ago…"

"Wow, so you really are 'Jiroso'?" Hiyori's eyes started to sparkle even more.

"Yep, that's me~. How did you know?"

"Kagami-senpai and Konata senpai told me about it."

"Ah, those two… Have you read my current series?"

"Yes! Actually, I'm a really big fan!"

"Really? That's great. Thanks for your support." He was happy hearing that she enjoys his novel.

"The latest volume was especially great. The new couple's really awesome!"

"Ahaha… Yeah, I really enjoyed writing them as well…" Even though Sojiro agreed with her, he also looked a bit tired all of a sudden. "Someone forced me to edit them a ton, though…"

"Eh? Did your publisher not like it?"

"I wouldn't know, actually… The initial draft never made it to him..."

"Hmm?"

"Someone suggested that I should make some minor edits before showing it to the higher ups. By the way, by 'suggest', I mean 'forced', and by 'minor', I mean 'a ton'…"

"What was the problem?"

"Well, my publisher said no to a change of the age rating anyway, but there were multiple internal… conflicts to solve…" Sojiro tried to stay vague.

"By internal problems, you mean…?"

"Kagami."

"Does that make any sense?" Hiyori couldn't follow his reasoning.

"Once you get to know her better, it will."

"I see… So, Kagami-senpai really is your editor then?"

"Not my official one. But a much stricter version of it… She has a lot of good ideas as well, though."

"Wow… How did that even happen? Kagami-senpai working with you, that is."

"Hmm… Before that, how much do you know about the rela… ehm, about Konata and Kagami?" He didn't want to accidentally leak something the couple hasn't told them yet. He did an okay job at best, though.

"Not that much… I only know them for not even two weeks after all. Why?"

"Just asking… Anyway, she's one of the first fans of the series and because she's here quite often, it just happened that she became a reliable help or so…"

"Kagami-senpai really is interesting… She totally doesn't look like she's the otaku type, especially one who likes yuri and yet…"

"Ah, w-well…" Sojiro had no idea what to answer. "I was pretty surprised as well when I first found out…" He actually didn't lie with his answer, he just referred to something else in his head.

"Ah! I almost forgot… You know, I actually drew some doujinshi about your main couple in the novel around the time when the second novel was released. They were even quite popular at the last summer comiket."

"Heh~? I never knew people are drawing doujinshi about my novel. That makes me quite happy."

"The series is one of the most popular ones in the yuri scene, after all, Sojiro-san. There are quite a few doujinshi next to mine."

"Obvious flattery will bring you… pretty far actually…" He's an easy to please fellow.

"Oh, I brought some of the ones I drew with me to give them to Konata-senpai. Do you want to take a look?"

"Can I? I would love to."

"Sure, I'll go and get them." She quickly got up and went upstairs before coming back to the living room soon after again. "Well, there are more I drew, but those here are the most 'family friendly' ones of them. Showing you the other ones is a bit… even for me…" Hiyori isn't embarrassed about her works, but looking at 18+ doujinshi together with a middle-aged man she just met is not something she wants to experience. No matter if the man in question was the original author or not.

"Don't worry, that's more than enough and this way, Konata and Kagami also won't kill me… again…" Lately, Sojiro's a little scared of his daughter and her girlfriend because of many reasons that are also mostly his faults. Tossing the thought about Konata doing a sermon before extorting some money out of him to the side, he finally took a look at Hiyori's doujinshi. He intently flipped through the pages and it seemed like he likes what he's seeing.

"A-And?" Hiyori became rather nervous at last because it's not an everyday occurrence that you're able to show your fan works to the original author of the source material.

"Hmm… It's good. Really good, actually. The art and the character designs are really fitting and their personalities are also spot on. The story's interesting as well."

"R-Really?!" She sounded excited.

"Absolutely. I'm especially fond of the art. There's something about it that really makes me like it."

"Wow… Thank you very much, Sojiro-san. You have no idea how happy it makes me to know that the creator of the series likes my work."

"No, no, I should be the thankful one here. It's fans like you who keep me going. Oh, can I keep those?" He held up her doujinshi.

"Of course, but why?"

"I want to carefully read them when I have the time for starters. They seem interesting after all."

"Oh, sure, please do." The two kept talking about her doujinshi, Sojiro's light novel and things around it for a while. Hiyori seemed very interested about being serialized and asked lots of questions about it.

While the two were engrossed in their conversation, both hadn't noticed that the front door opened and Konata, together with Kagami, had come back home. The two entered the house and once they left the eyes of the public, their few restraints that were low in the first place, disappeared immediately again. While clinging onto each other, the two walked past the living room and immediately stopped when they glanced into the room and reluctantly let go of each other again.

"You've finally done it now, huh, dad? You finally went and abducted a high school girl… Oh, it's Hiyori, hey Hiyorin~."

"You know that I wouldn't do that, dear daughter of mine." Sojiro seemed hurt at the heavy, albeit not entirely unreasonable, accusation of Konata.

"I'm pretty sure that one day just looking won't be enough for you anymore." She had no intention to stop, though.

"Oh, hello Konata-senpai and… Kagami-senpai?"

"Hello, Hiyori…" Kagami also greeted her. "But seriously… He didn't abduct you, right…?" She's Konata's girlfriend and basically a member of the family after all.

"Et tu, Kagami?!" He was shocked.

"That's my g- Kagamin~." Konata almost forgot about Hiyori for a second.

"No, he didn't kidnap me, senpai. Why would he in the first place?"

"That's a long story…" She got an answer from both at the same time.

"This old man over here feels pretty hurt, you know?"

"What were you doing with him, Hiyorin?"

"I told you about the doujinshi I drew about your father's light novel, right, Konata-senpai? I took the opportunity and showed them to him. Afterward, we talked about a lot of things and even had a few good ideas for our respective future projects."

"Is that so?" Kagami perked up when she heard the words 'good ideas'. She really had a bad feeling about the ideas Sojiro and Hiyori came up together. Wanting to stop any possible catastrophe, she walked up to Sojiro and reminded him about something. "You know what's going to happen if you overdo it again, right, Sojiro?"

"Aww~, don't be like that, Kagami…"

"Ehm…" Hiyori walked up to Konata in the meanwhile. "She calls him by his first name?"

"Well, that's also a long story…"

"Come on, Sojiro, you're not _that_ much of an M, right? You don't want to go through last time again, do you? It's not going to be as smooth and cheap like last week when Kona found out about the last volume again, you know?"

"Wait, last week definitely wasn't cheap!"

"You think so?" She looked with a slight grin at Konata who had an even bigger one. Seeing that, Sojiro shrunk down by a fair bit.

"Okay, okay, okay, fine, I'll keep it tame in the next volume…"

"That's good to hear."

"K-Konata-senpai… What's up with their dynamic?" Hiyori was greatly confused from looking at the two.

"That's rather complicated to explain… Wait, actually, it's rather easy… It's my fault because I told her how to handle my father and that she shouldn't hold back… Well, her S-tendencies did the rest."

"She's an S?"

"Yep~."

"I can hear you, Kona."

"That's why I didn't lie~."

"My senpais sure are amazing…" Hiyori was equally amazed about the dynamic of Kagami and Konata.

"You have no idea…" Konata only mumbled these words, but once Hiyori finds out about the relationship of the town, 'amazing' probably isn't nearly cutting it. "Anyway… What are you doing here in the first place, Hiyorin?"

"Hmm? Oh, right… Minami and I are visiting Yutaka today."

"Certainly doesn't look like it, though."

"Well, I had to temporarily flee because Yutaka started asking me about my doujinshi again…"

"I see… Yeah, we should do our best to preserve her innocence."

"Even though it's just because you have too much fun teasing her, Kona?" Kagami had finished her talk with Sojiro and joined them again.

"Kagamin~, that has nothing to do with it."

"Sure."

"Ahaha, well then, let's all go to Yu-chan's room now." Ignoring her, Konata walked towards the stairs. The other two followed her soon after and the three girls entered Yutaka's room.

….

"Oh, Konata-oneechan, welcome back, Kagami-senpai as well."

"We're back~." The group joined Yutaka and Minami and sat down at the table as well.

"Ah, Konata-oneechan, do you have a boyfriend?"

"Eh?" She looked confused for a second and tilted her head, but the answer was easy and came fast. "Nope, I don't have a boyfriend, not even interested in having one in the first place. Where does that even come from all of a sudden?" She was asked about having a boyfriend and so, not a single lie was told.

"Hiyori-chan had the idea after I told her that you hadn't come yesterday."

"I just wanted to tease her a little, but she thought about the rest, Konata-senpai… Still, where were you, though?"

"I had something to discuss with Tsukasa and because I was there already, I slept over at Kagamin~'s place."

"Ah, spending the night together with Kagami-senpai, huh?"

"Yep~." Hiyori wanted to tease her with her suggestive wording, but Konata took her on with a complete lack of being flustered.

"Oh, I'm going to use that, Konata-senpai." She had no problem with the confident sounding answer.

"And then, Iwasaki-san, you see…"

"Yes. That's true, Kobayakawa-san." Yutaka and Minami were happily chatting with each other while the others were minding their own business. Seeing that, Hiyori immediately focused on them again while giving Konata a nudge in the sides.

"Hah~, aren't those two just great~?"

"You really enjoy them, huh?"

"Absolutely~."

"Okay, you know what, I'll give you a freebie, Hiyorin." Konata looked at Yutaka and Minami before starting to smile mischievously. "Yu-chan, Minami, I've been wondering about something…"

"What is it, Konata-oneechan?"

"You two are both using the first names to address basically all of us, right?"

"Yes?"

"So, why is it 'Kobayakawa-san' and 'Iwasaki-san' when you two are talking with each other?"

"Eh?"

"…" It looks like the two hadn't even realized that they were doing it.

"I think it's time to change that."

"Oh, I have to agree with Konata-senpai on that."

"Uhm… Isn't it a bit hard to change a habit so suddenly?"

"Just give it a try, Yu-chan~."

"O-Okay…" She looked at Minami and tried her best. "M-Mi… Mi… Mi… I'm sorry, Iwasaki-san, it's somehow really embarrassing once the name's already established…" Yutaka's face turned red as she failed to say her name and shyly looked away.

"It's okay, Yu… Yu… Kobayakawa-san… It really is rather embarrassing." Minami's rather expressionless face also turned a bit red around her cheeks. While the two were wrapped into a slightly embarrassed atmosphere, Hiyori was about to ascend to heaven.

"Hah~, this is pure bliss~." She was holding a tissue to her nose and tried her best to not stain it with too much blood. Seeing her reaction, Konata and Kagami could only smile wryly.

"I'm glad you're happy, Hiyorin."

"Please marry me, Konata-senpai." She was over the moon thanks to the scene Konata made possible for her. The proposed person in question was about to face a problem, though.

"Nah, I'm good." Without even looking at Kagami to confirm her suspicion, she immediately turned her down. The reason she didn't look at Kagami was easy. She didn't need to because she could feel her glare that lowered even the room temperature. Having an idea to diffuse the situation completely, she leaned over to Kagami and started whispering. "Don't worry, little miss jealous, ignoring a _few_ organizational problems, you would be the only one who would get a different answer somewhere in the future."

"W-What?!" Being caught completely off guard, she couldn't find any fitting words.

"Panicky Kagamin~." Konata almost looked as satisfied as Hiyori who was still concentrating on the other two.

"S-Shut up… You can't just say something like that like it's nothing…"

"Ehehe… Anyway…" Konata still changed the subject because of many reasons and looked at Hiyori's direction. "I wonder what's going to happen to her if _we_ go all out…"

"You know, I kind of want to find that out a little, Kona…" Kagami doesn't dislike Hiyori, but she wants to make clear that Konata's hers, even though Kagami also doesn't want to outright announce it on the spot. She's complicated after all and while her jealousy is completely baseless and irrational, she just can't help it.

"Oh~, then I'll go ahead and tease her a little." Konata immediately thought up a plan. "Haa~…" She suddenly yawned and stretched herself. "Wow, I'm so tired… Last night finally caught up, huh? I couldn't sleep at all…" She finished her fake stretching and leaned against Kagami's shoulder with a smile while closing her eyes.

"Hmm~…" Kagami realized what she was doing and decided to play along. "Yeah, it really got too late, I'm sorry for not letting you sleep." She also stretched a little and then placed her head on top of Konata's.

"…." Hiyori was looking at them for some time already, but was at a loss for words as she watched them cuddling so openly. Her left eyelid only twitched a few times while it looked like her brain overloaded. "Ahaha…" She suddenly started laughing. "Thank you very much, Konata-senpai, that was a feast. You as well, Kagami-senpai, it looked very natural and authentic. I expected nothing less from the two of you." Something inside Hiyori broke and she played it all off as her senpais simply teasing her. Sure, that was the plan of the two, but that didn't mean they faked anything just now.

"E-Eh…?" Konata couldn't believe her ears. She certainly didn't see that turn of events coming. While trying to follow the bizarre situation, her confusedness changed into amusement while she tried her best to refrain from laughing.

"Wahaha~…" Kagami hadn't that much self-control right now and let loose." Haa~, that's too good."

"Is something wrong, Kagami-senpai?"

"N-Nothing… Everything's fine~." She calmed down to some degree, but still had fun with the situation.

"Hiyorin, Hiyorin…" Konata almost felt sorry for her that she's thinking that she and Kagami are just faking it. "But that doesn't mean we have to stop teasing you, right?"

"Uhm… no? Feel free to do, it's still a good reference, but… Why?"

"It's fun~." That was part of the reason, but the main objective was that she and Kagami didn't have to hold back that much anymore until they decide to tell them.

With that being clarified, they dropped the topic and chatted about _normal_ things again. Those topics didn't last long, though. Because of Hiyori's okay earlier, Konata and Kagami were officially all over each other. While looking at the _affectionate_ couple, Yutaka started to send slightly jealous glances towards the cuddling two.

"How nice… Being so friendly with your best friend…" While she said that, she occasionally peeked at Minami. Thanks to that, Konata felt a little bad again.

"Ah, w-well… Kagamin's indeed _also_ my best friend…" One of these words were only audible for Kagami right next to her.

"D-Do you think we can also become this close?" Yutaka was now completely facing Minami.

"I think so… Y-Yutaka-chan…" Minami also wanted to get closer and finally managed to say her name this time with an even bigger blush on her face.

"Really?! Thank you… Eh? T-Thank you very much, M-Minami-chan…" Yutaka realized that she used her name and also became bashful in the middle of her sentence.

"No, thank you all very much~." Hiyori couldn't keep her calm anymore, grabbed her sketchbook and started drawing in it with great vigor. Today yielded her a great harvest.

Konata and Kagami had a complicated expression on their faces ever since Yutaka compared her and Minami with the two again. While smiling wryly for some time, Kagami suddenly felt her phone vibrating. She took it out and saw that she had a new message. The mail came from Tsukasa and while looking at the content, she started smiling and showed her phone to Konata. She looked at the mail as well and immediately, too, started smiling. Afterward, the two continued to watch the chaotic scene in front of them with a pretty satisfied look.

…

Earlier that day, about an hour before Konata and Kagami left the Hiiragi home, Tsukasa had already left the house and just arrived at Miyuki's place.

"Haa…" She exhaled deeply and pressed the doorbell. Nervousness was clearly written all over her face. Not much time passed and the door opened.

"…" Miyuki looked at Tsukasa, but both said nothing for a while. "A-Ah, please come in, Tsukasa-san." Before it became too awkward, she finally bid her inside.

"T-Thanks."

"You can go to my room first. I'll prepare some tea and join you then."

"Okay." Tsukasa went to her room and Miyuki disappeared into the kitchen to make the tea. 10 minutes passed and she also arrived in her room while carrying a tray with the tea.

"Sorry for the wait…" Miyuki sat down at the opposite side of the table Tsukasa was already sitting at and offered her a cup.

"Thanks, Yuki-chan…" She took a sip from the tea and placed the cup back on the table again. Then, the room fell silent for a moment again.

"The flower viewing last time was quite nice, wasn't it?" Miyuki wanted to do something against the rising awkwardness with a little small talk, but it didn't help that much.

"Yeah… Kona-chan's place really is beautiful…"

"Indeed… The connection between Minami-san and Yutaka-san really surprised me, though."

"Absolutely… Well, I thought about it before, but I never would've guessed that it's actually true."

"Still, it's really nice that the two became friends."

"That's true, Yuki-chan…"

"Hmm…" The conversation was about to die down again and Miyuki was thinking hard about a new topic. "Oh, I recently succeeded making candy from melted sugar, Tsukasa-san. I probably won't hurt myself anymore again."

"Eh?" She couldn't follow her.

"You don't remember? I burned myself when I tried making the candy for you on… White… Day…" Her voice grew faint at the end when she remembered the day it happened.

"Ah… Right…"

"…"

"… Haa…" Tsukasa had enough. "It really has been awkward between us lately, huh? Even worse, we're seeing each other less…"

"Yes…"

"I'm sorry for not coming over as often lately, Yuki-chan…"

"I think that's equally my fault…"

"No, it's all because I kissed you out of nowhere back then! I'm very sorry about it, but I really don't like the current situation between us…"

"Y-You don't have to apologize for that, Tsukasa-san." Miyuki tried her best to keep calm, but it was basically impossible. Just hearing the word 'kiss' was enough to set her complete face on fire. "I-I didn't exactly dislike it…" Despite her embarrassment, she still managed to mumble those words.

"More importantly…" Tsukasa wasn't listening to her words. "It basically was an accident in the first place… I saw the scene in the movie, then you, and it just happened…"

"Then, does that mean you didn't like it?"

"W-W-What?!" Tsukasa started to panic at the completely sudden and unexpected question of Miyuki. "T-That's not what I meant! I don't regret it, but the time and… I… I, uhm…" She tried her best to explain, but she had a hard time finding the right words.

"Hmm~?" Miyuki's expression suddenly changed into a very determined and resolute one for some reason, but Tsukasa was too busy preparing herself for her next words to notice the change.

"Y-Yuki-chan, listen, there's something I need to tell you…" Tsukasa closed her eyes because looking at Miyuki made her only more nervous. "I… I… lo-!" She tried her best to get the confession out of her, but she wasn't able to finish. Miyuki's determination earlier wasn't just for show and so, she silenced Tsukasa. With her lips, that is. She noticed what Tsukasa was about to say, but Miyuki had her own plan. Using the timing when Tsukasa closed her eyes, she used up almost all of her courage and pressed her lips on Tsukasa's. "Mmnm?!" Tsukasa panicked for a second, but once she recalled the familiar sensation she's feeling then, she instantly went silent again. Even though the kiss was rather clumsy because Miyuki improvised and had no experience in initiating one, it was more than enough for Tsukasa to completely shut down. No matter the clumsiness in the execution, it was a really effective way to silence her. Miyuki naturally wasn't unaffected as well. She parted from her a couple seconds and once they were separated again, her entire face was red, but even though she was incredibly embarrassed, she managed to stay focused on her target, or 'prey'. Said target, Tsukasa, still wasn't focused on anything at all, though. A couple minutes of silence passed and Tsukasa finally finished rebooting. Her face was obviously filled with pure confusion because she had no idea what just happened.

"How frustrating…" Miyuki looked somewhat disappointed as she touched her own lips. "Why is it that even though my kiss was on purpose, it's still so far behind yours when you acted on a whim, Tsukasa-san?"

"…" There would be two natural things to retort here. 'That's your problem?!' and 'Who are you?!' Tsukasa only narrowed her eyes, though, and tried to comprehend the situation. "Y-Y-Yuki-chan…?" She wanted to say something, but it didn't really work and Miyuki interrupted her again anyway. This time with words, though.

"Tsukasa-san, first, I'm sorry for interrupting you…" She took a deep breath and tried her best to keep up her determination on the same level as she continued. "I'm aware what you wanted to say earlier and I'm really happy about it, but it's my turn now… Tsukasa-san, I know we started as friends, but along the way, my feeling for you changed. I'm not exactly sure when it happened, but before I was aware of it, I realized that I had fallen in love with you…" Without stuttering once, Miyuki was able to finish her confession and voiced her feelings with a smile on her lips.

"…" Tsukasa remained silent for a minute again until something inside her audibly broke with a shattering sound. "Ha… Haha… Ahaha…" She started laughing for no reason and the tension was instantly gone. "What's up with that?! That's so unfair, Yuki-chan! If you knew what I was about to say, why didn't you let me finish? Do you have any idea just how much courage this whole day did cost me?"

"Hmm~." She didn't sound or look very sympathetic. "That was the plan, Tsukasa-san. You know, deep down, I've actually been a little angry at you for some time now…"

"W-Why?"

"That's pretty easy… Someone kissed me without any warning whatsoever and then ended the day without saying a single word…"

"Ehm…" She started to understand something.

"Furthermore, not only nothing on that day happened, the girl in question never mentioned the kiss for the next… what is it? Six weeks? Seven weeks? I know that I'm partially at fault for staying silent as well, but somehow, I really thought it wasn't my responsibility to initiate it. I mean, you kissed me and not the other way around. Now it finally happened and I decided to be a bit selfish on my own. While I agree that I acted rather childish today, I'm sorry, but I'm not sorry at all, Tsukasa-san." She made it pretty clear that Tsukasa made a few wrong decisions that upset her to some degree.

"O-Oh…" Tsukasa had just realized what she made Miyuki go through. After acknowledging her mistake, she immediately sprung up from her place and kneeled down on the floor next to Miyuki and pressed her head against the ground. "I-I'm so very sorry, Yuki-chan… For being such a selfish wimp, that is… Now I remember Kona-chan even tried to warn me, but I didn't listen because I thought going at my own, slightly weird, pace was a good idea… As it turns out, now more than ever, it really wasn't and I even ended up hurting you… Once more, I'm very sorry, Yuki-chan…" Tsukasa was feeling really bad.

"Thank you very much for your apology. Well… I said all that, but I really wasn't much better myself. I was also very satisfied with the status quo for a long time without saying anything. I wasn't sure what I should do either after all. I mean, I even ended up looking up things on the internet for help. There, I found this tactic about being aggressive. It was said that I should go on the offensive and take the initative myself. Not having a better idea, I gave it a try today…"

"Wow… The internet sure is amazing…"

"I'll have to agree with that." Miyuki was pretty happy with the result of the tip she got from the internet.

"…" Tsukasa suddenly turned silent with a complicated expression on her face that looked like the whole situation finally dawned on her and she became aware of everything that happened.

"Is there something wrong, Tsukasa-san?"

"N-No… Not exactly wrong, but… What exactly did just happen?" She was looking for a confirmation.

"What do you mean?"

"You… confessed to me a little while ago, right…? D-Does that mean that…"

"Just wait a moment, Tsukasa-san." Miyuki interrupted her once more. "I think I have yet to hear something from your side, do I not?"

"Oh… R-Right…" Tsukasa hasn't given a response to her confession until now. "W-Well…" She tried to find the right words. "First off, Yuki-chan, let me apologize once more, I'm very sorry. I'm sorry that it took so long. I'm having such a great time with you and every time I'm not, I wish I could see you… I was really jealous of Kona-chan and onee-chan for a long time, but that made me also realize that my feelings for you changed into something else over time as well, Yuki-chan…" Tsukasa stood up, jumped into Miyuki's arms and hugged her with all her might. Then, she placed her head on Miyuki's shoulder and started whispering into her ear. "I love you, I love you, love you…" She repeated those words many times over until Miyuki moved her upper body a bit and turned her head to look at her at point blank range.

"Yes, I, too, love you." For a while, the two just gazed into each other's eyes. Tsukasa soon had a different idea, though. Remembering her words about being aggressive earlier, she tilted her head a little and kissed Miyuki on the lips without any warning at all. Miyuki was a little surprised at first, but there was no reason to stop her. One kiss became two and two turned into many more. Time passed and the need for oxygen turned into something very unfortunate. They parted again and while panting for air, Miyuki looked pretty dazed. Seeing that, Tsukasa looked very pleased with herself.

"Wow… That aggressive thing really works, huh?" Tsukasa said so, but it was rather obvious on her face that she was also at her limit.

"… I… I think you very already rather good before, in that regard, Tsukasa-san… Wait… More importantly! Why are you so good at this?"

"Good at what? Being aggressive?" She only tilted her head.

"No, the… kissing… Just like last time, you're really skilled or… amazing."

"Hmm…? Am I? That sure sounds nice, but I have no idea… It's not like I have anything I could compare it with." She has no reference after all.

"That's great…" She sounded relieved for a moment, but quickly came back to the topic. "A-Ahem, I really do think so. At least compared to me, that is. My kiss was pretty awkward after all, but yours on the other hand…"

"I don't think your kiss was bad, though, Yuki-chan…" Tsukasa didn't care about her technique, or the lack of it, at all.

"But I do…" She felt a strange sense of defeat. "Ah, I know, I'll look up the right way to do it on the internet."

"Ehm… Is that really how it's supposed to be dealt with…?" Tsukasa wasn't convinced of the idea. "Isn't it just a question of accumulating experience?"

"I thought you don't have any as well…?"

"Oh… Right, that probably wasn't the best example, huh?"

"Hmm…" Miyuki started thinking about Tsukasa's words. Thanks to today's being the day of being aggressive, it didn't stay with just thinking about it. Miyuki closed her eyes and kissed Tsukasa again. She wasn't even surprised at this point anymore and just greatly welcomed it. The kiss, again, was somewhat awkward, but some improvements were already there. Miyuki was about to part again, but Tsukasa decided to turn it into training. She wrapped her arms around Miyuki's neck and pulled her closer again. While returning the kiss, Tsukasa quickly took the lead. Exchanging kiss after kiss under her lead, Miyuki's returns became less and less awkward. More time passed and Tsukasa let go of her. Miyuki didn't want to stop at first, but a known problem also forced to part in the end. Being out of breath, the two spent the next minute in silence while calming down. Even though Miyuki was busy getting air inside her again, she looked pretty satisfied.

"See~?" Tsukasa seemed proud, although it was a bit hard to see under the blush of her face that wasn't completely caused by the lack of air.

"Yes… I don't think I need the internet after all…" The progress she had already made convinced her that it's going to be alright.

"By the way… Yuki-chan, were you always this… daring? I mean, I don't dislike it, but it's rather surprising…"

"I'm sorry to say, but that's your fault, Tsukasa-san. You made me like that."

"Ahaha…" She could only let out a dry laugh in response.

"I went through some bothersome thing after all…"

"I already told you that I'm sorry, Yuki-chan."

"I know~." She gave her a playful answer.

"Y-Yuki-chan… D-Don't worry, I'll take responsibility for you… ehm, it…"

"That's reassuring to know." Miyuki gave another semi-serious answer and both started laughing soon enough. It took some time before they calmed down because every time they looked at each other, the laughing started again. It slowly changed it occasionally giggling and after another minute passed, both were finally able to look at each other while staying serious again.

"W-What is even going on here, Yuki-chan?" Tsukasa started to question things.

"What do you mean?"

"Everything… This whole situation is so bizarre…" Tsukasa didn't just mean their laughing fit just now, but basically the complete day until now.

"You're right, we're a bit out of it, aren't we?"

"Why did it even become like that in the first place, Yuki-chan?"

"That's indeed a good question… I understand how it became awkward, _Tsukasa-san_ , but not really why…" She took great care of emphasizing Tsukasa's name.

"I wonder how long it'll take until that grudge of yours is gone again…" She let out a troubled sigh. "Anyway, why, huh? Actually, aren't Kona-chan and onee-chan the reason for that…?"

"Why's that?" Miyuki didn't see the connection.

"Those two made me realize my feelings and once I was aware of them, things became complicated…"

"Sooo… If they hadn't said anything, you'd still be doing whatever you want, Tsukasa-san?"

"A-Ah…" She noticed the rather big flaw in her excuse.

"Though, I guess you have a point there somewhere. After I spoke with Konata-san about the situation, I also became more sensitive about the whole thing."

"Today's still rather extreme…"

"That's probably the result of lots of pent-up emotions exploding or something like that…"

"W-Well… The result's good, so all is well, I guess…"

"More or less… That being said, I think I understand Kagami-san's and Konata-san's struggles last year a bit better now."

"Yeah… Speaking of them, is it okay for me to tell them about today, like, now?"

"I don't intend to hide it when it comes to the two, but why so soon?" Miyuki gave her okay and Tsukasa quickly grabbed her phone. She sent a single thumbs-up emoticon to Kagami and Konata and then concentrated on Miyuki again.

"W-Well… I told Kona-chan about what happened on White Day and how it became awkward afterward…"

"And?"

"She became really angry with me…"

"I see, thank you very much, Konata-san."

"Anyway… She kind of threatened me to get a grip already or else she'll have a talk about us with you, Yuki-chan."

"She really is a nice girl after all… So, what does that have to do with you wanting to tell them immediately?"

"Kona-chan gave me a time limit that ends with Golden Week until said talk."

"Is that so? I would've wished that she didn't give you such a lengthy limit and threatened you earlier, though…"

"Ah, n-no, I just told Kona-chan about what happened at the day of the flower viewing."

"Oh, I see, that's good then."

"I never would've thought that you're such a resentful person, Yuki-chan…" Tsukasa already felt plenty bad and Miyuki wasn't helping. "Well… Because it's still my fault, I'll do my best to make it up to you. Just say what you want and I'll do it."

"I'm only like that when it comes to important things are involved. Anyway, things for making it up, huh? Don't worry about it, Tsukasa-san, you're on a good way already." While thinking about the events of today, she simply gave her a sweet smile.

"Ehehe~." She returned an equally nice smile. "That's good."

The important discussions were over and the two spent the rest of the day leisurely. Even though they occasionally let out a stupid grin, especially Tsukasa, both managed to stay somewhat calm. In fact, the two looked so peaceful that the chaos of before seemed to be nothing but an illusion. But, it wasn't, Tsukasa and Miyuki had finally become a couple. Tsukasa also directly made use of this change already. It was hard to notice, but she became even clingier. Because she wouldn't let go of her, neither Miyuki nor the girl clinging to her moved much and spent the entire day with light cuddling. No matter how happy both were, because they were mentally so exhausted and used up all of their boldness and courage already, the two really left it at that.

* * *

.

Another chapter done~.

While I have the feeling that especially the second part was all over the place, I still like how it turned out. I had a few problems, but the two, especially Tsukasa being all over the place is somehow even fitting, I guess…

Hiyori and Sojiro also are a dangerous combination, mainly for Konata and Kagami, that is. Poor Hiyori, though, getting overstimulated and misunderstands everything. Well, her main focus is Yutaka and Minami after all, for now at least.

Totally out of context comment of the day: The author of Lucky Star totally wasted something. Yutaka either calls Konata 'Konata-oneechan' or simply 'Onee-chan', but how cute would've been 'Kona-nee'? Well, nothing I can do about…

On to the next chapter! Well, it'll probably take a while, though… Konata and Kagami are going on their trip and I already have a rough idea, but I'm still lacking details… The chapter after that is also completely blank. I'll probably take a short break and look for inspirations (I welcome everything you throw at me, especially for summer break events). I'll do my best to keep it as short as possible.


	35. Everyday Life

Some time passed since Miyuki and Tsukasa became a couple as well, but nothing really much changed in their everyday life. While Tsukasa's as clingy as always, because she's Tsukasa, the two weren't as openly showing off as a certain other couple. The two were somewhat able to hold back in public, again, unlike a certain other couple. There was also still a hint of hesitation and awkwardness between Tsukasa and Miyuki because everything is still new to them. The assertiveness of the two showed on the day of their confession quickly died down to a normal level after their pent-up frustration was released.

Today's a normal day at school and because of the weather's extraordinary nice for the rainy season, it was already June after all, the girls decided to spend their lunch break outside. The group had secured a nice place behind the school building where usually no one ever goes. Thanks to that they were able to spend their break in peace whenever the weather allowed it. Not spending the break in Konata and co.'s class had definitely nothing to do with an intense envy induced jealousy of their classmates from the thick and unapproachable pink aura around the four. Nothing at all.

Right now, Konata and Kagami were alone though. Miyuki and Tsukasa had gone to the school store to buy something, but going there usually means that they're not going to show up during the break again because of its popularity. Because of that, Kagami and Konata had the place all to them alone. It's a fairly small meadow with a semi-huge tree, perfect for providing shade and taking a quick nap.

Konata and Kagami were currently having a good time relaxing together under said tree and didn't have a single care for the rest of the world. Until someone found them, that is.

"Oh, Konata-senpai, Kagami-senpai, I wasn't expecting to find you two here…" Hiyori appeared out of nowhere and saw the two relaxing under the tree.

"Hey, Hiyorin…" Forcefully interrupted out of their own little world, Konata gave a weak reply while Kagami just gave her a, not so nice, glance. She hates being interrupted even more than Konata.

"What are you two doing here?" Hiyori paid the reaction of the couple no mind.

"Shouldn't that be more, like, our question? Our group, normally including Miyuki and Tsukasa, has been here pretty often lately…"

"Ah, is that so? Well, I was looking for Minami and Yutaka…"

"And you came to look here out of all possible places?"

"Those two going to a place secluded from everyone else, being all alone, getting all comfortable, maybe even a lap pillow… Hah~… You know what I mean, right, Konata-senpai? This place here is perfect for all sorts of stuff, isn't it? No one ever looks around here after all. It's a perfect spot for couples to hide." Hiyori shortly lost herself, but managed to stay somewhat on the topic.

"Well…" Konata wanted to retort something along the lines that it absolutely didn't work as intended because of how someone just found the hiding spot and interrupted them, but refrained herself from doing so. "Why are you so fixated on them so much anyway? You should be happy I still haven't shown them any of your doujinshis, especially the latest one, if you know what I mean."

"And I thank you very much for that, senpai. But, isn't it extremely obvious?"

"What is?"

"Those two are a godsend for all Yuri lovers on the planet! Their interactions with each other are just so… hngg!" She couldn't even find the right words.

"I still can't see them as anything other than just being best friends, though…" It's not like Konata doesn't understand Hiyori's reasoning, but because she knows Yutaka rather well, for her, it's just Yutaka being happy that she finally found a best friend she can spend her time with. Even more so because her health seemed to have improved ever since she came to this school. She also hasn't spent enough time with Minami to get a picture from her side. She only knows that she's rather the silent type and that her reactions to teasing are pretty funny.

"Nonono, if you could see what I could, you would easily agree with me!"

"See what you can?"

"I have an excellently developed Yuri radar. I can see with just a glance when a couple in my surroundings has the quality to be shipped. Those two are beyond the scale, I say!"

"*cough*" Konata made a great mistake. While she was listening to Hiyori's speech, she took a sip from the drink she had, but once she heard her words, she started coughing and the fluid flew all over the place. "W-What…?" She had nothing in response and also tried to hold back.

"Ha… Haha…. Ahaha…" Holding back? Is it tasty? Kagami had no intention to even try and performed a perfect three stage laugh. Even if she tried to stay silent, which she didn't even think about, she couldn't have done so anyway. She isn't exactly proud of it, but she and Konata are so obvious and yet, Hiyori still thought that the two are just acting. In Kagami's eyes, Hiyori's so-called Yuri radar is so broken that it was beyond fixing and thus, she couldn't help her reaction. Konata obviously also had more than just a couple doubts about it.

"Is something wrong, Kagami-senpai?"

"N-No, everything's fine…" Kagami had problems calming down.

"Okay then, well, I guess I'll continue my search for now. Following my radar, I'll find them soon enough!"

"Ha…" Now even Konata let out a stifled laugh. "Y-You should try the infirmary next."

"Oh~, as expected of Konata-senpai, even if you don't see what I see, you're still a like-minded fellow. The infirmary, such a classic location! Why didn't I think of it sooner?! If you want to do something, it's even better there because you even have beds accessible!"

"No… It's because it's Yutaka, you know? The infirmary is basically her second home…" Konata tried to retort something, but Hiyori had already turned around and walking away from them.

"Haa…" Kagami looked exhausted.

"Hmm…" Konata, on the other hand, looked like she had some kind of plan. Making sure that Hiyori wasn't looking, she faced Kagami and gave her a quick kiss. Though bewildered by the suddenness, Kagami put up no resistance at all as usual. At the very moment their lips touched, Hiyori suddenly stopped and frantically looked around. It seemed like she sensed something, but the only direction she didn't look at was behind her. Thanks to that, she soon continued her walk towards the infirmary. Konata looked after her with a smile. "Wow, looks like her Yuri radar is the real thing after all, huh?"

"Yeah, but too bad the owner of the skill is blind beyond saving…"

"Haha, that's true."

"Wait, was the kiss really necessary? We're at school after all." Kagami complained a little, but she somehow didn't look angry at all.

"Yep~."

"Okay." She simply accepted it. "Hiyori did say something interesting, though."

"What is it?"

"Well…" Instead of talking, she simply demonstrated it. She moved herself a bit and after finding a good position, Kagami placed her head on Konata's lap.

"Ah, I see~." Konata relaxed a bit and patted Kagami's head. "Such a spoiled child…" Kagami, however, didn't answer and just let out a comfortable giggle. "Still, I feel a bit sorry for Minami and Yutaka…"

"Hmm… Well, it looks like she properly holds back directly around them, though."

"That's also true. I guess it would be worse if she finds out about Tsukasa and Miyuki…"

"Seeing how they're still a somewhat awkward… Yes, that wouldn't be good, Kona."

"It's quite funny how Hiyorin completely ignores us now… We really overloaded her, huh?"

"Yeah, but I'm starting to think that it isn't so bad…"

"Haha, speaking of which, Tsukasa and Miyuki really aren't coming back anymore, are they?"

"Probably, the area around the school store is survival of the fittest after all… Those two aren't, well…"

"You have a point there, Kagamin~."

"Maybe they also gave up already and spending the rest of the break somewhere else."

"Could be. I kind of wanted to see them though. Their awkwardness is super adorable after all. Not that stupid kind of awkwardness they had before getting together, but…"

"Yeah, I get what you mean… Their innocence really is cute. Well, I know that they got somewhat far already, but it's super funny how they get embarrassed so easily."

"Absolutely. Though I can't say I wasn't surprised when Tsukasa told us that Miyuki said she's really good at kissing. I mean, how were we supposed to react?! Your sister's surprisingly smooth at the oddest things, isn't she, Kagamin~?"

"Indeed, she's more than her appearance suggest."

"Oh, well, that's a common Hiiragi trait."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Hahaha."

"Oi~." Kagami wanted to complain some more, but because she was still in Konata's lap, restraining her was a rather simple task. She soon stopped struggling again and started to enjoy her position once more. Noticing that, Konata stopped pushing her down and comfortably leaned back. While the two kept being busy with each other, the lunch break soon enough neared its end and the two reluctantly had to head back to their classes.

Just like this totally normal day passed, a couple more flew by as well in the same manner and the birthday of the twins in July came closer and closer. It wasn't only their birthday, though. It's also the one-year anniversary of Konata and Kagami and Konata had already something planned for that day.

* * *

.

Welcome to the shortest chapter of this story... I guess you really can't call that a chapter, huh? Well, it was supposed to be the beginning of the next chapter, but because of how the rest's going to be, it totally didn't fit all anymore. But, I liked the part and so I thought, why not post it? Take it as some sort of interlude/intermission thingy to the next real chapter.

The next chapter's now going to be completely about Konata and Kagami's anniversary and that works way better for the flow.

I said I wanted to take a break, huh? Well, it's not like my time prognoses for the next chapters were ever right, were they? Okay, I did want to take a break, but then I got an idea for the next chapter(s) and then I saw that it's not impossible to get the chapter ready on the real date. That being said, I'll try my best to get the chapter ready for 07. July, the birthday of the twins.

Little spoiler thingy for the next chapter: I think I said multiple times that I don't want to change the age rating of the story to M, right? Right now, that's my biggest problem I'm having while writing the upcoming chapter… (And no, it's obviously not because of violence or something like that.)


	36. Anniversary

**[I said multiple times that I won't change this story to M-Rated… Well, that worked well… Okay, it's still rather tame and cute and nowhere near explicit/smut, but I really don't think it works with the T-Rating anymore… except maybe here in Europe…]**

* * *

June flew by in a flash and the weekend of the twins' birthday including the anniversary of Konata's and Kagami's relationship was almost there. They usually would've spent the birthday together with Tsukasa and Miyuki like last year, but the two decided that their anniversary hat priority this year. Konata went all out and booked a room in a Hot Spring Inn for the whole weekend. Luckily, the trip was paid in full by Konata's father, Sojiro. He cried for a good while after Konata presented her the bill, but it was completely his own fault for using his daughter's love life as a reference for his light novels. Even Konata herself looked with big eyes at the final prize, but she didn't feel sorry at all. For some reason, she really has absolutely no idea why, only high-class inns had free rooms and even then, only super expensive rooms were available on the weekend of their anniversary. One could've assumed that there would be a wider range of choices when booking a room over two months in advance and outside of the main holiday season, but Konata was pretty persistent in the _fact_ that there wasn't any other choice than this. Sojiro didn't feel like questioning her anything more afterward.

Thursday, right before the weekend in question, arrived and Konata was currently busy preparing for the trip. To be precise, she was packing some clothes and other necessities in her room.

"Oh, onee-chan, what are you doing?" Yutaka walked into her room at some point and asked her what's going on.

"Yu-chan, hello. As you can see, I'm packing. I'm going on a trip this weekend."

"Oh, I see. Together with the other senpais from your group?"

"Nah, just Kagamin~ and I."

"Okay…?" Yutaka looked somewhat confused. "Only the two of you?" Even she had the feeling that going on a weekend trip isn't something two friends alone normally do together.

"Yeah, well, her birthday is on the weekend, and I planned the whole trip…"

"Ah, that's how it is… Wait, what?" She thought it made sense at first, but it really didn't after all. "Aren't Kagami-senpai and Tsukasa-senpai twins? Their birthdays are on the same day, right?"

"W-Well…" Konata actually got cornered by Yutaka. "Kagamin~'s somewhat special… For why it's really complicated to explain on the spot, but she's basically family to me… Or something like that…"

"Oh, you mean like a sister?"

"No, absolutely not!" Konata made sure to vigorously deny that explanation, there would be way too many things wrong with that, especially when she's going to tell Yutaka what's going on.

"Ehhh?" Yutaka didn't understand anything anymore. To her, Konata wasn't making any sense at all.

"Well, there is something I have yet to tell you, Yu-chan, it'll all make sense then, but it's still a bit too early…"

"Oh, okay, I'll wait then." It's good that she's such a nice girl.

While Konata was trying her best to deal with Yutaka, her girlfriend, Kagami, had similar problems as well when she was preparing for the trip.

….

Just like Konata, Kagami's also packing in her room at home when someone decided to join her. Miki had just entered her room, and the smile on her lips didn't mean anything good. Kagami immediately got a bad feeling when she saw her mother entering the room. She sat down on Kagami's bed and watched her for a moment before finally saying something.

"You know, I never heard anything about your trip besides that you're going to a Hot Spring Inn. I'm really curious about the details, you know~?"

"I don't know that much either… Kona planned the whole trip because it's also my birthday. The only thing I do know is that we're going to Hakone."

"Well, Hakone being a hot spring area somewhat nearby makes it only natural. I wonder if you'll be able to see Mt. Fuji from your inn. Hakone's pretty close to it."

"No idea, I guess that depends a little on the location. The chances are pretty high, though… The whole trip's super expensive after all…"

"Really? How can you two even afford the whole trip?"

"That's… Sojiro's paying for it and Kona's making full use of that."

"Eh? Why's he the one paying?"

"Well… That's a long story… a very complicated situation and, ehm… I would be happy if you wouldn't ask, mom…."

"Hmm… Well, I have more important things to ask anyway…" Miki agreed and changed the topic.

"Why do I have a bad feeling again?"

"What are you two going to do the entire time in Hakone?"

"Uh, no idea, as I said, Kona planned the whole thing…"

"Well, it's not like the two of you are going to leave the room anyway in the first place."

"Haha, that's actually… not that unlikely."

"Oh my, what a bold daughter I have here. You have matured quite a bit, haven't you?"

"Sure~, you can blame Kona for that, though."

"Aww, that's no fun at all…" Miki started pouting and looked disappointed when she realized her teasing wasn't working at all. "Whatever I'll go visit Tsukasa then. She still has nice reactions~." Just like that, the storm called Miki disappeared again.

"Haa…" Kagami held her temples while letting out a sigh. She tried her best to fight back a surfacing headache from her _absolutely-no-good_ mother while continuing to pack for tomorrow.

…

Friday arrived, and school was already over for the girls. The two met up at the station near Kagami's house and took the train together to the station in Tokyo. Continuing their trip with a bullet train from there, the two arrived in Hakone in basically no time at all. Arriving there, all that was left was a short bus trip to their Inn. The two entered the reception hall, and Konata quickly handled the checking-in procedure. Afterward, someone from the Inn staff showed them to their room. They were escorted to an adjacent building, and the staff member stopped right before a luxury-suite kind of corner room. Seeing just that was enough for Kagami to _almost_ feel sorry for Sojiro already. Her excitement easily overshadowed such silly feelings, though. They went inside, and Kagami immediately wasted not even a single thought about his wallet anymore, she was simply speechless and overwhelmed.

"Wow…"

"Hehe." Konata seemed satisfied with her reaction. Once the initial shock was gone, the two started looking around. The first station was the living room. A good part of it had a traditional Japanese style feeling with the tatami mats on the floor and the low-height table with chairs that were more or less just backrests. The room also had a western feeling to it, though. Modern looking pictures and the huge, gray sofa made a nice contrast to the traditional style. After that, they took a short peek in the bathroom, but it was just a bathroom… Toilet, shower, tub and other bath related things. In short, nothing really unusual, but it was really spacious, and that's always a plus. The next room was incomparably more exciting to Konata and Kagami, the bedroom. Except the sliding door to enter it, it had an entirely western feeling to it. Lots of, mainly dark, wood was used as the central theme of the room, beginning with the wooden floor, continuing with parts of the wall and finalizing it with the massive wooden headboard of the bed. The bed itself was also the highlight because it's actually wider than long. Lots of indirect lighting provided a very comfortable atmosphere.

"Wow…" Kagami repeated herself. "What a bed… And here I thought yours was overkill, Kona."

"Haha, yeah… Well, mine's also too much because a certain someone always uses me as a hug-pillow and so most of the bed stays empty anyway, but, well this bed is more than just overkill. Not that having more room to… play is something bad."

"That's true." She didn't deny anything that Konata said. Rather, her eyes looked somewhat dangerous, or rather, hungry, but that's a story for later. Her expression soon changed to a surprised look anyway because Konata saved the highlight for the end.

"Well, now take a look at that." The other side of the bedroom was connected to an outdoor terrace which completely went along the two walls of their corner room. Thanks to that, one could enjoy two completely different views at the same time. One side faced a beautiful bamboo forest growing its way up a gentle hill. The stunningly high and dense grown bamboo had a slightly intimidating side to it, and the whole forest felt somewhat eerie because of its vastness, but the sound of swaying stalks with its gentle rustling had an amazingly calming effect on one's mind. The view from the other side of the terrace was entirely different, though. Having not a single thing obscuring the view, one had a perfect view of Mt. Fuji in the near distance. As is purely placed for enjoying the view of both directions, there was a big and incredibly comfortable looking hammock placed at the corner of the terrace. The most stunning thing to see was something entirely else, though.

"You're joking, right…?" Kagami looked and the stunning object in question and had doubts believing it.

"It's awesome, isn't it?"

"Well, yeah, but… seriously?!" The two were looking at a huge open-air hot spring bath directly connected to the terrace, and that was completely for their own, private use.

"You know that I don't do things half-heartedly, Kagamin~." Konata was happy that the place she chose left such an impact on her.

"That's for sure… It's amazing here, you really outdid yourself here, Kona. But, your father's wallet did as well, huh?"

"Oh, you have no idea~." Konata had a really sinister smile on her lips while saying so.

"I guess my mom was right, though."

"Hmm?"

"She jokingly(?) said that we aren't going to leave our room anyway when she asked about our planned activities here."

"Yep, that's true, there's absolutely no need to go anywhere else."

"I wholeheartedly agree with you there." Once they had seen everything and Kagami calmed down from being overwhelmed, the two went to their bedroom again and started unpacking their clothes. Konata opened the wardrobe and found something rather interesting.

"Hoh~, look at that, Kagamin~." She took a pair of blue Yukatas out of the wardrobe and handed one over to Kagami. "A stay at a Hot Spring Inn has to be authentic after all."

"That's true." Agreeing that being near a hot spring means wearing a Yukata, Kagami immediately started undressing on the spot until only her panties and a bra were left.

"W-Wow…" Konata was at a loss for words and enjoyed the view for a second before having an idea and tried her luck. "You know, for a real authentic feeling, you aren't supposed to wear anything underneath."

"You would like that, wouldn't you?"

"You have no idea…"

"Hmm~." Just like that, two more articles of clothing fell down on the floor before Kagami ever so slowly bent forward, grabbed the Yukata, and slipped into it.

"…" It was that very moment when the not further mentioned clothes landed on the floor when Konata knew that the weekend's going to be an excellent one. Actually, it took her a fair amount of time longer to realize because her brain stopped working for a moment.

"Happy?" She looked unbelievably smug.

"H-Huh? Oh, yes… very… Thank you very much, Kagami-sama." She needed a moment to snap back to reality. "I can say for sure that I'm the happiest person alive."

"Hehe~." Kagami seemed happy and once Konata changed into the Yukata as well, including another short, though similar, interruption, the two went to the living room and made themselves comfortable on the sofa. "Seriously though, Kona, just how much did that here all cost?"

"Don't worry about it, Kagamin~, my father took it quite well."

"Did he really now?

"Absolutely~. He only cried for a couple of hours when I showed him the price for the room~."

"Wow… I know that it was expensive when I saw him being somewhat depressed after you found out about the content of his light novel, but it was that much, huh?"

"Yeah~." It was beyond obvious that Konata didn't feel sorry in the slightest.

…

The two spent some more time relaxing on the sofa until they decided to have a slightly early dinner in their room. Unfortunately, for Sojiro that is, Konata hadn't ordered the standard menu, but a considerably more expensive festival of seafood. Fancy looking sushi, sashimi, shrimps and much more was presented on a lovely decorated plate. Not only the quality, but the quantity as well was outstanding.

"Just how much fun did you have with spending money, Kona?"

"You'll lose if you think about things too hard, Kagamin~."

"Well, not that I'm complaining." Just like that, the two started feasting on the food in front of them.

They safely finished the satisfying meal and directly went on with their next point on the agenda. Getting ready for entering the hot spring bath, the two decided to take a shower first. Purely for the purpose of saving time, of course, Konata and Kagami reluctantly entered the shower together. Thanks to that, they did their best to get over it quickly, and _only_ half an hour later, the two left the shower again already. Wearing nothing more than a towel each, the girls went to the terrace and entered the hot spring bath. They looked for the best position in the water for a while but quickly settled for a place where they sat down directly next to each other and chatted for a while. Kagami soon had something to complain about, though.

"You know, the order we're doing things is totally wrong… Why did we have to enter the hot spring right after having such a large meal?!"

"What's the problem?"

"Being naked after eating just makes me feel even fatter…"

"Ha?" Konata looked at her with a raised eyebrow. Then she left her place right next to Kagami and moved in front of her. Then, she slowly looked at every inch of Kagami's body while taking great care not to miss a single detail. "What?"

"You heard me, idiot."

"Yeah, I did. That's the problem. Just where are you fat, exactly? I never understood that mindset of yours… only that it was fun to tease you with, that is… I wouldn't mind presenting you on a pedestal in my room, you know?"

"But, lately I just gained almost another kilo… and that's not the first time…"

"Hmm…" Konata took another, now even more concentrated look at her. "Nope, no fat at all. Wait, maybe…"

"W-What?" She didn't like the sound of that.

"Kagamin~, could it be possible that you grew a little?"

"No, I haven't gotten taller at all la-… Kyaa!" The two weren't talking about the same kind of growth. While Konata looked for confirmation whether certain parts of her body actually grew by groping them, Kagami suddenly screamed up a bit. "W-Why are your hands so cold?! I mean, we're in a hot spring after all!" The cause for her scream was very different from the apparent reason, though.

"That's your problem, huh? Great! But, coming back to the topic at hand, quite literally actually…" She gave the left _topic_ a squeeze and continued. "Yep, there's definitely more. I wonder why they grew~."

"If you're going to make a fondling joke now, Kona, I'll do the same to you, you know?"

"Hmm…"

"Wait, let me correct myself, I WON'T."

"…" Konata had already prepared something to say but instantly fell silent upon hearing Kagami's severe thread and the slightly dangerous look in her eyes. She let go again and obediently sat down next to her while changing the topic. "The view sure is great here." She rested her head against Kagami's shoulder and looked straight ahead towards Mt. Fuji in the distance while enjoying the comfortable feeling of direct skin contact.

"That's true…" Kagami lazily agreed with her and also looked in the same direction while feeling as relaxed as one can get. The two enjoyed the scenery, including the bamboo forest for a couple minutes while enjoying each other's company.

"You know, it's quite funny how this trip compares to our last hot spring visit with Tsukasa and Miyuki, huh? It was so awkward that I almost wanted to cry back then… Interesting how drastically things can change in less than a year…" The two were so very comfortable around each other in every situation now that Konata just had to compare it.

"Don't remind me!" Kagami, on the other hand, just wanted to forget about those embarrassing memories.

"Ahaha… Well, I get your point, though."

"You're right as well…" She stored the embarrassing memory of the last hot spring visit back in a dark corner of her brain again but started thinking about the last year as well. "So many things have changed ever since we became a couple… We have significantly changed as well… You actually calmed down a lot, haven't you, Kona?"

"Nah, you just became so much more of an otaku that you don't notice it anymore."

"That's… Shut up…" She wanted to deny it, she really did, but it somehow was hard for her to voice it out.

"I think you have changed much more, Kagamin~."

"I'm actually not going to deny that."

"The otaku thing or changing in general?"

"I'll hit you."

"Oh, right, you also became much more of an S I initially thought you'd be…"

"That's just because you have an unexpected big M side yourself."

"W-Wha-…" Konata was a little shocked, but when she saw Kagami's grin, she immediately knew that she played right in her cards. She went silent because she didn't want to give her that victory, but to Kagami, that was the very definition of victory.

While being wrapped in a comfortable silence, the two continued to soak in the water while enjoying the scenery around them. Konata was about to nap away thanks to the extreme level of relaxation, but something or rather, someone was hindering her from doing so. For a while already, she felt a rather intense stare coming from her side, and when Konata finally turned her head, she directly looked into Kagami's eyes and a chill ran down her spine. Konata already noticed that her eyes were looking somewhat dangerous ever since unpacking their things earlier that day, but she finally remembered where she saw that look before. It was the look of a carnivore, like a lion, eying its prey. The prey, Konata, instinctively shuddered, but unlike animals in the wild, this prey had no reason to flee. Even if she had, it was too late anyway. Kagami noticed that she was found out and seeing that her prey showed no resistance, she attacked. She lifted one of her legs, and with an elegant turn, she sat down on Konata's lap, effectively mounting her, and placed her arms on Konata's shoulders. Ignoring her wet hair that was sticking to her arms and parts of her face, Kagami pulled Konata closer and started kissing her. Even if a prey doesn't show resistance when being attacked, there's no guarantee that it'll stay like that. While Kagami was slowly kissing her way down Konata's neck, she started her own attack. The sudden growth spurt of her girlfriend still somewhat fascinated her, and because a famous legend states that there's something that'll support this growth, Konata made sure that her fondling was a regular occurrence. Her hands soon started to wander again, though. She wrapped her arms around Kagami's waist, and with a sudden move, Konata pulled her as close as possible. Not even the water around them had enough room between their bodies, and it violently splashed in every direction on contact. The two became even more soaked, but neither of them seemed to care about the water dripping from every part of their bodies and hair. They continued completely unfazed, and while Kagami never stopped showering Konata's body with kisses, her hand also started to wander, but it never reached its destination. It became more and more steamy, but it wasn't the right kind of steamy. The already warm water around them heated up more and more from their rising body temperatures and the whole area became really foggy. It became somewhat of a bother, and the extra heat from the hot spring also was everything, but needed in their current situation. Kagami had no intention to let her already caught prey escape, but decided to stop her attack temporarily. Letting go of each other, Kagami stood up and moved to the edge of the bath. With a wink of her finger, she gestured Konata to follow her, and both left the hot spring bath. Both hastily grabbed a towel from the floor where they left them before, and while sloppily drying themselves, the two went to their bedroom.

Throwing their towels in the next best corner, they stopped in front of the bed. Both looked at each other, and when Kagami noticed the glistening droplets of water on Konata's still somewhat wet body, her already non-existent reasoning hit a new all-time low and she forcefully pushed Konata onto the bed. Wasting no time at all, she immediately jumped after her and landed on top of Konata, making her unable to move. Looking up at Kagami, Konata's reasoning flew out of the window as well. Kagami's equally glittering skin, her wet hair sticking to both of their bodies, her flushed looking face with an even more hungry gaze, and not to mention various other eye-catching places were too much for Konata to wait any longer. She wrapped her arms around Kagami's neck and pulled her closer. Being welcomed with a deep kiss, Kagami let go of her position hovering above Konata and pressed her body against the girl below her. Continuing where they left off in the hot spring, the two often changed the position because not only Kagami was the hunter, but both were prey and hunter at the same time. The bed they initially thought was way too big for them, soon felt extremely small. The night had advanced quite far already, and even though it was so late, none of them seemed like they wanted to stop anytime soon.

…

The next morning arrived. The two actually did fall asleep at some point, mainly due to exhaustion, but it was late enough to make them oversleep way longer than they'd planned. Konata was the first to wake up, and after letting out a big yawn, she looked around. Her eyes were immediately glued to Kagami next to her, though. Their bed was a complete mess, and the blanket wasn't even on it anymore, but because of that, Konata had a perfect view of Kagami's bare back and various curves of her body. Gulping once, she somehow managed to stay with watching only, and Kagami also started to wake up. Turning around, she noticed Konata watching her and so she greeted her with a sweet smile before closing her eyes again. The act of turning around put quite a heavy burden on Konata's mind, though. Being able to see even more attractive curves on the front, along with various other important things made her almost swoon, but she luckily became help from outside.

"… Kona~, door~…"

"H-Huh?" She snapped back to reality and noticed that Kagami was trying to say something to her.

"Door… open it…" She was still asleep while talking, but that was nothing new to Konata. While she tried to make sense out of her girlfriend, she finally heard the knocking on the door as well.

"Oh… Yes, I'll go…" She didn't even ask why Kagami didn't open it herself because Konata already knew that she's beyond useless in the morning while waking up. She stood up and left the bedroom, but luckily noticed a big problem before it was too late. Konata quickly disappeared into the bathroom, and when exiting again, she was wearing the blue Yukata that she left behind when she took a shower with Kagami yesterday. Clothes weren't needed after that anymore after all. But, opening the door naked wouldn't be a wise choice. Konata opened the door, and even though she was wearing something now, her bed-hair was a still something else, but the girl from the inn staff at the other side of the door was a professional who didn't even bat an eye at such a sight.

"Dear guest, we'd like to know whether you're going to eat breakfast at the dining hall or if we should prepare a selection for you to eat in your room?"

"Ehm… room… definitely room…" Konata's thoughts were still at the naked Kagami in the next room, and so she needed a second longer for the answer.

"Certainly, we'll immediately start preparing. Do the guests have any other request or wishes?"

"No need to rush, breakfast in half an hour would be perfect. Hmm… Oh while we're at it, we're planning to have dinner in our room as well."

"Certainly."

"Ah, is it possible to make the dinner a little more… special? My… uh… companion's birthday is today, and we have _something else_ to celebrate as well, you see."

"We absolutely can do that, it's no problem at all. I'll immediately inform the staff in charge to make the appropriate arrangements."

"That's great! Thank you very much."

"No, we have to thank you, dear guest." The Inn girl made a polite bow and left after everything was clarified.

The door closed again, and Kagami arrived a little while later in the living room. She still looked somewhat drowsy, but she seemed moderately awake now. The only problem was that, contrary to Konata, Kagami didn't bother fetching the Yukata from the bathroom. Kagami didn't mind at the moment, and Konata also had no direct objection to the situation, but she started to lose her concentration again. Because the two had yet to take a shower to freshen up from last night, Konata tried her best to remain calm and pushed Kagami into the bathroom. It really stayed with only a simple shower, though. They almost failed because of getting distracted, but because breakfast was arriving soon, they had no other choice other than giving up.

Once the shower was dealt with and breakfast had arrived, the two sat down at the table in the living room and started eating. It was a traditional Japanese-style breakfast. Miso soup, rice, fish, and rolled eggs. No surprise for the girls, but it was nonetheless very satisfying and delicious.

Konata managed to stay calm for a while because she was concentrating on the food, but once they finished breakfast, she faced the same problem as earlier again. The problem called 'Kagami'. Because they immediately started eating after coming out of the shower, their hairs were still wet, and Kagami's hair was already a weak point of Konata, but right now, not only was it wet, Kagami was also wearing her hair open to let it dry more easily. Konata openly stared at her, and her intention was clearly showing on her face. Kagami met her gaze and answered with an inviting smile. Seeing that confirmation, Konata wasted no time at all and actually jumped across the table. Thanks to her cat-like nimbleness, she managed to avoid everything on the table and directly landed in Kagami's arms, knocking her over on the impact. Both landing on the floor, Konata immediately made clear that she's leading this time. She started kissing her neck and quickly made her way down towards the collarbone, but something was bothering her. Suddenly stopping, she lifted her head and started looking around. Finding the target, Konata stood up and grabbed Kagami's hand. Just like that, the two relocated themselves to the sofa that was directly behind them. The only thing that was left behind at the place on the floor was their Yukatas. Having it way more comfortable now, Konata directly continued without taking a break. Kagami by no means had the intention to stay passive, though. While Konata was just about to move past Kagami's collarbone, going downwards, Kagami playfully bit her earlobe. Using the opening Konata showed in return, she quickly changed the position and was now on top of her. She pinned her down and started with kissing her neck as well, but unlike Konata, she didn't let herself get stopped so fast. Not leaving out a place, she eventually made her way down to Konata's naval. Starting to move further down, Konata began to grow slightly impatient with the rather slow speed of Kagami. She decided to bring her hand into the game, and things immediately became even more heated up. Without it getting any less intense, it soon became almost noon without them even noticing.

….

After the sofa was successfully tested for its durability – that's the story they're going to tell the inn if someone asks -, the two went to the bathroom again to take yet another shower together. After that, they directly went to the terrace and entered the hot spring bath to relax.

"Haa~, I could get used to this…"

"You too, huh?" Feeling beyond comfortable and relaxed, the two tried their best not to fall asleep in the water, but they were losing this fight. Kagami was trying to keep her eyes open while leaning against the edge of the bath and Konata was leisurely floating on the water without moving a single muscle. While staying like that for a while, the two started chatting at some point to prevent falling asleep for real.

"We should have gone on this trip much earlier, Kona."

"Yeah, being alone with just the two of us really is the best. Doing whatever pleases us without thinking is pure bliss."

"Having to be considerate of no one is sooo relaxing… Just why did we have to lose the comfortableness of your house, Kona?" Kagami started lamenting the loss of privacy in the Izumi house ever since the new school year started.

"Always having someone being at home really does suck… My father was easy to deal with because he often had to leave somewhere because of his light novel, but now that Yu-chan's also there…"

"In the first place, what's up with her timing?!" Kagami sounded a little frustrated. "It's not like she doesn't leave the house at all, she's actually going out quite often, to Minami's place, for example, but why is she always only doing that when your dad's at home?!"

"Calm down, Kagamin~… Oh, maybe we should support Hiyorin and get them together. She'll probably leave for Minami's place more often then…"

"Don't tempt me with stupid things I'll actually start considering at some point… But, even if it would help us, I don't think it's a good idea, though."

"Haha, yeah… I also still don't think Yu-chan feels that way about her. She's still just happy having found a good friend. According to the background check I did on Minami, I'm sure it's the same as well. She also has problems finding friends because of her somewhat intimidating look and reserved personality after all."

"That's true… Wait…" Kagami felt like she heard something really outrageous right now. "Y-You did what?"

"You mean the background check?"

"Uh… yeah?"

"You don't think I'll leave my cute and innocent Yu-chan in the care of an unknown and possibly dangerous person, do you?"

"Ehh…"

"Don't worry, though after I had a long talk with Miyuki and her mother, I was able to confirm that she's a really sweet girl~."

"T-That's good… I guess? Wait, stop! If you're concerned about a dangerous person, what about Hiyori then?"

"Ah! I-I mean, Hiyorin's fine, she just wants to play after all…"

"Is that so?" It was evident that Konata wasn't objective there.

"Yes… Anyway, where were we again?"

"We were talking about the incredibly frustrating and hopeless situation of having time for us alone…"

"Right… Is there really nothing we can do?"

"Maybe we should just tell Yutaka about us already."

"I'm thinking about the same lately, but how's that going to help with our problem?"

"If she knows, we can just ask her to occasionally let us alone by going out on a specific day where your dad's not at home either."

"Ah, I see. So, you're going to tell _that_ Yu-chan that we want to be alone because of _what_?"

"I think I'm willing to go through this embarrassment soon enough, Kona."

"Wow… Just how much did you let pent up inside you lately?" Konata wanted to die while just thinking about explaining the situation to Yutaka.

"Judging by the last 24 hours, probably about as much as you, Kona, but yeah, it's quite a lot…"

"Busted, huh? I wonder if there isn't a more practical way for us to be alone, preferably all the time, that is."

"Nothing we can afford at the moment, I guess."

"Fair enough…"

"For now, let's just make the best out of the remaining time of this trip." Putting the problem aside, for the time being, both let out a big sigh and soaked a little longer in the hot spring.

….

The two left the bath after a while again, and once they had a little snack for lunch, both were looking for a new place to relax. Not wanting to laze around on the sofa, for no reason at all, Kagami brought the attention to a huge floor pillow kind of bean bag placed in the corner of the living room. Konata directly jumped at it and sat down in the most comfortable way. Kagami took the place next to her and leaned against Konata's shoulder. She didn't stay long in this position, though. Shifting her body a bit, she aimed for Konata's lap and dived into it without reservation. Using Konata's lap as a pillow, her second favorite pillow use of Konata, the first being a full body pillow, Kagami seemed pretty happy.

"You really like doing that, huh? You spoilt little princess."

"Ehehe~." She only playfully rubbed her head against Konata's lap.

"Oh, well~." She had nothing, in particular, to complain about. While she watched Kagami on her lap happily humming a melody with a smile, Konata started playing with Kagami's hair at some point. She grabbed a few strands and steadily let it flow through her hands and occasionally coiled it around a finger of hers.

"You also really like my hair, don't you?"

"That's just a blatant rumor~." It was evident that Konata was only joking, but Kagami smelled an opportunity.

"Really? That's good then. You know, I thought about cutting it short for a while already."

"…" Konata immediately froze up and started shaking so much that even Kagami could feel it through her entire body and when she saw Konata's face, she quickly felt pretty bad.

"K-Kona, that was a joke! I was just messing with you a bit…" She cleared the misunderstanding and soon felt that the shaking started to subside again while the color returned to Konata's face. Her eyes seemed to have regained their shine as well.

"Ahaha, you shouldn't do that, Kagamin~. There's a line in teasing you should never cross, you know?" Her words sounded cheerful, but she wasn't smiling in the slightest.

"I'm sorry… You really like it that much?"

"I like your hair as much as I love the rest of you, Kagamin~."

"You're as smooth as ever, huh?"

"So… No cutting, right?" That was her number one priority right now.

"No, I won't. I don't even like short cuts…"

"That's good, very good." Konata let out a relieved sigh and resumed caressing Kagami's hair with even more vigor now. Kagami sighed as well and then gave up on the topic. Instead, she just buried her face deeper into Konata's lap.

The two continued to laze around on the bean bag and time flew by. Before they knew it, both spent the entire afternoon with being lovey-dovey, flirty, cuddly, and cozy without ever moving an inch.

….

Evening arrived, and a knock on the door signalized that their cozy cuddling session was over for the time being. Kagami stood up and went to the door this time. Three members of the Inn staff arrived and asked if they could start preparing everything for dinner in their living room. Kagami didn't understand why they need three people for that why have to prepare something in the first place, but she agreed nonetheless and let them have the living room. She and Konata used the time and disappeared into the bedroom to change their attire. Wearing real clothes for the first time since arriving, here again, the two entered the living room about 15 minutes later, and the Inn staff was already gone. Looking at the table, though, both were pretty surprised.

"Ehm…"

"Yes…" The two were looking at a super romantic dinner arrangement. The table was wrapped in a pure white cloth, many candles contributed to a very atmospheric lighting, and rose petals were scattered all over the place. The prepared food also looked delicious. It was a traditional three-course menu. Starting with a colorful salad, the main course was fancily arranged paste together with expensive looking sliced beef. For dessert, each had a crêpe generously decorated with strawberries and chocolate sauce. The biggest surprise was something else, though. Looking next to the table, there was a bottle of champagne placed in a metal ice bucket on a stand.

"Kona… What's going on here…?"

"That's a good question…" She also wasn't expecting anything on this scale. "I just told them about today, but it looks like they went all out…"

"What exactly did you tell them?"

"I just asked if it's possible to make dinner a little more special because it's your birthday and that we have something to celebrate. I didn't mention any details, you know?"

"Depending on the person, I don't think you need details when hearing something like that…"

"Isn't it fine, though?"

"Well… Yeah…" Kagami looked at the romantic looking arrangement and shrugged her shoulders. There was nothing to complain about after all and both sat down at the table to eat. The two weren't even halfway done with their salad when Kagami noticed that Konata was concentrating on something else. She kept glancing at the bottle of champagne. Seeing that, Kagami let out a sigh. "Kona, no, I really don't think that's a good idea…"

"Why not?"

"Come on, even I watched enough anime to know what happens if alcohol's involved. I bet one us doesn't handle it well and goes crazy. I won't say any names, Kona, but…"

"What are you talking about? No one gets drunk so quickly… In real life, it's impossible, safe for allergies, to get drunk by just sniffing alcohol or pralines with brandy or whatever. Even soy sauce or miso has more alcohol in it due to the fermenting in it. You also get drunk from that, do you? A glass of champagne is nothing. You really say the funniest things, Kagamin~."

"What?" A vein popped on her forehead as she snapped a bit. Being lectured about common sense by Konata really isn't something she likes. Konata being the voice of reason by something related to anime wasn't helping either. Being a little angry, she grabbed the bottle without thinking and directly opened it with a pop. Konata was happy that she wasn't looking at her right now because her 'all-according-to-plan' smug face was impossible to hide. Quickly offering to class, Konata let her fill them before Kagami noticed that she was being toyed with.

"Well then…" Konata raised the arm in which hand she was holding the glass of champagne and started a toast. "Happy birthday, Kagamin~. Also, a very happy anniversary to both of us. Let it be the first out of very more."

"There'll be uncountable more in the future. Thank you very much and a happy anniversary to you as well." The two let their glasses click, and both took a sip.

"Hmm… It's not that bad actually."

"You're right, it has a nice taste to it."

"The whole situation sure feels like we're full adults already."

"You should grow a little more for that, Kona."

"Hey… I wasn't talking about height here…"

"Neither was I~." Kagami likes her size after all and Konata's mentally is pretty far from an adult sometimes.

"I'm not sure if that's any better…"

"Hehe." While taking another sip, the two continued to eat. They were having a really good time, and the food was delicious. Also, without realizing it because they were busy with each other and the food, the bottle of champagne emptied soon and the last drop left the bottle a little before the food was gone as well. Dinner was over soon after and the two went over to the next point on the list; exchanging presents. Konata was the one who started.

"Okay, Kagamin~, which present do you want first?"

"Does it make a difference?"

"Not really, no… They're both under the same theme anyway… In the first place, I only brought one of them with me here…"

"Well, then start with that, I guess…"

"Good idea~. Happy birthiversary~." She made an awkward combination of both events of the day and handed a small present over to her.

"Thank you very much." She opened the box and found a pair of silvery keychains with the date of the current day engraved on them.

"I was so free and included one for me as well."

"They're beautiful, Kona."

"That's really good to know. Okay, my other present is a little more complicated. Nah, not really complicated, rather, it's big. That's why I didn't bring it with me." Konata opened her phone, she actually brought it with her for a change and showed her a picture on it.

"Wow…" She was looking at a picture of a canvas. It showed a blue silhouette of a tree which crown was filled with heart shaped petals and in the tree, there were sitting two birds facing each other. On the right side of the canvas were the names of Konata and Kagami, together with the date of their anniversary in a playful font imprinted. "You're way too good at finding presents… I directly have to find a place for it once we get home."

"I'm glad you like it."

"I do. I guess it's my turn now, huh?" Kagami handed her present over, and Konata quickly unwrapped it.

"Heh~, that sure brings back memories. I completely forgot about that photo after I changed the wallpaper on my phone to a different picture of the two of us." Konata had gotten a picture frame with a very nostalgic photo in it from Kagami. It was a glass frame slightly dyed in a subtle pink with small hearts and roses. The picture in it was already over a year old. It was the one Tsukasa and Miyuki secretly took when they went flower viewing last year. The couple was soundly sleeping under a beautiful cherry blossom tree in full bloom. This day had an extraordinary meaning to Kagami because it was the day she unconsciously fell in love with her girlfriend. That means, for Konata, it was a very important day as well. The original photo was a little edited, though. Just like Konata's presents, it also had the date and their names imprinted on it. "Your gifts are really great as well, Kagamin~. Thank you very much. I'll immediately place it on my desk back at home."

"Hehe." While being moved by their presents for each other, the two exchanged a hug, followed by a passionate kiss full of affection. While the two were embracing each other, the alcohol started to gradually show more of its effects. It was true what Konata said before, it really is impossible to get drunk on microscopic amounts of alcohol like shown in anime every so often. However, two girls, basically completely unaccustomed to alcohol, unconsciously emptying an entire bottle of champagne, that's an entirely different story, and there _can_ be some effects. When the two parted again, their flustered faces, that weren't caused by arousal for a change, were clearly visible.

"Hey… How about we go to the terrace, Kagamin~?"

"Sure, why not?" She had nothing against the idea, and both left the living room. At least, that was the plan. Konata had made exactly one step before she tripped over her own feet. "Wow, there…" Kagami managed to catch her, but that wasn't of any help. Having drunk as much as Konata, her sense of balance was almost equally affected. In short, while she did catch Konata, both magnificently ended up on the floor in the end. Lying flat on the floor, the two looked at each other and started laughing out of nowhere.

"Ahaha~, you're so clumsy, Kagamin~."

"Eh~, but you're the one who fell first…"

"This and that are completely different."

"Whaat~?"

"Falling while catching someone is way clumsier than simply tripping over my feet."

"You don't make any sense, Kona."

"Do I ever?"

"Fair enough~." She easily agreed with her.

"Hey~, you could've at least pretend to disagree, Kagamin~."

"You know that I don't like to lie." The two spent the next 20 minutes on the floor while talking about things that mostly didn't make any sense at all because they somehow couldn't get up.

"Okay~, another try to stand up, Kagamin~?"

"Sure~."

"Then… 3-2-1-Go~!" Both lifted their heads and parts of their upper bodies at the same time, but that was all that happened. They didn't succeed in standing up at all, and with a thud, the back of their heads made contact with the floor again, and both started laughing once more.

"Well, that worked brilliantly, huh?"

"Wahaha~, alcohol is amazing."

"Haha, true that~." Even though the situation was rather bizarre, the two were having quite a bit of fun.

Another 25 minutes passed, and the two were somehow able to think up a plan. Grabbing each other's hand, they somehow managed to pull themselves up into a sitting position. Continuing from there, both were able to get back on their feet after a lot of struggling. That was the easy part, though. Their original plan from about an hour ago, going to the terrace was still far from being accomplished. Kagami and Konata were slowly able to work with their condition and started to handle it a little better. Wrapping each an arm around the other's waist, the two finally began their grand voyage to the terrace while supporting each other. Both were staggering quite a bit, and the way the two walked was far from a straight line, but they eventually reached their destination.

"Haa… Even after I had an online game marathon with Kuroi-sensei and hadn't slept for three days straight, walking was still way easier back then…"

"I won't comment on that now…"

"Ehehe~. Now, why did you want to come to the terrace, Kagamin~?"

"Ehh? I'm fairly sure it was your suggestion, Kona."

"Really? It was me?"

"Yeah, I'm 86% certain it was you…"

"Hmm…" Konata tilted her head. "What did I want to do on the terrace, Kagamin~?"

"Why are you asking me?"

"How should I know why I wanted to come here?"

"Do you think it makes sense if I knew that?"

"Knew what?"

"Ehh…?" It was getting too complicated for Kagami.

"Oh~, look, a hammock~."

"What? You really think we'll able to enter a hammock after we needed an hour to get from the living room to here?"

"Why not?"

"Because it's already somewhat complicated to enter one in normal conditions…"

"How hard can it be~?"

"We'll probably find out soon enough, I guess…"

"Well then, you go first, Kagamin~."

"Why me?"

"Because."

"Because of what?"

"Just because."

"Okay~." Kagami's ability to reason was significantly reduced as well after all. The two staggered towards the hammock, and a little miracle happened. After just embarrassingly failing twice, Kagami managed to stay in the hammock with her third try. Even Konata stood way more under the effect of the alcohol, she actually had a way easier time entering the hammock. Because Kagami was already on it, the hammock was pretty stabilized and balanced, thanks to that, she could simply let herself fall into it without any problems. The lying surface was easily enough to fit two persons next to each other, but Konata really didn't like that idea. Rolling over, she lay down on top of Kagami while using her chest as a pillow.

"Are you done now?" Kagami asked her after Konata finally stopped wriggling around.

"Yefsh~." Letting first out a somewhat muffled voice because of the position of her face in Kagami's chest, Konata lifted her head a bit. "I have the best place in the world now."

"I see." Not minding her selfishness, she wasn't any better, after all, Kagami wrapped her arms around Konata's waist and hugged her tightly. While feeling extremely comfortable, the two enjoyed each other's company and warmth without saying a word for a while. Staying silent wasn't one of Konata's specialties, though.

"Kagamin~, I love you."

"I know that~. I love you, too." Kagami easily returned her confession, but Konata wasn't done yet.

"Nonono, I mean, I reeeaaalyyy looove you~." She tried to turn serious, but the alcohol was preventing her from doing so. Instead, she just started rambling about what went through her head without holding back. "I love you so much that I can't even describe it~. You're the most important… everything in my life… You make me the happiest person in the country… no, world… no, solar system… no, universe… no, wait, is there something bigger…? Anyway, I can't be without you anymore because…" Konata continued her drunken babbling until Kagami made her stop. Lifting her head, she simply kissed her to shut her up like usual when she doesn't stop talking.

"As I said, I know, silly. I feel the same after all. My life's so much better since I got to know you and every new day with you is one I look forward to~. I rea~ly equally love you because…" Kagami easily returned the confession once more and almost started rambling on her own, but managed to hold herself back. In a rather weird way, that is. Just like she shut Konata up by kissing her, she shut herself up by kissing her as well. Konata returned the kiss, but she was rather awkward at it. The alcohol made her way clumsier than she thought. Kagami's reaction was way worse, though. The combination of comfortableness, warmth, the kiss, Konata in general and the alcohol made her incredibly sleepy all of a sudden. Konata was finally getting better at kissing again, and things became to get a little more heated up when she noticed that Kagami had simply fallen asleep.

"Haa…" Konata sighed but seeing the adorable sleeping face of her girlfriend made her want to join her. Letting out a yawn afterward, she rested her head on Kagami's chest and quickly followed her to the land of dreams.

…

The two napped a couple hours away in the hammock and woke up again around midnight. They also sobered up a bit, but that wasn't necessarily a good thing.

"Uhh…" Konata let out a groan, but most of that was muffled by Kagami's chest where she still had her head buried in.

"What's wrong, Kona?"

"Hmm…" Konata finally lifted her head and looked straight at Kagami's face. "I maybe have a slight headache… It's not that bad, but not really nice either…"

"That's exactly how you look as well~." She made a light joke to brighten up the mood.

"Haha, are you fine?"

"I feel somewhat sluggish, but my head's fine. I don't want to think about how it's going to be tomorrow, though…"

"That's sooo unfair~…"

"Really? Whose idea was the champagne again, Kona?"

"Yours, definitely yours."

"Is that so? Well, whatever, one thing is sure, though… I really don't want to move anytime soon… I think I'll sleep in the hammock today… You'll need to have a very good idea to get me out of it."

"Too bad, I just wanted to propose to enter the hot spring. I heard somewhere that it's excellent against a hangover and against sluggishness anyway…"

"Oh, that is a great idea~." Kagami easily swayed away from her original plan.

"Let's got then~!" She energetically voiced out, but nothing happened.

"Kona… You usually stand up after saying something like that."

"I just tried… It didn't work, though… Looks like I'm also feeling rather sluggish and my position is way too comfortable." Konata simply let her head fall into Kagami's chest again and gave up.

"Okay, let me help you…" Kagami gave her a little push to make her stand up, but it didn't work as expected. Having an incredibly slow reaction, Konata didn't stop next to Kagami on the hammock and elegantly crashed face first on the terrace floor. The only elegant thing at that scene was the delusion of the event that happened in Konata's mind, though. "That didn't go as expected… Are you okay, Kona?"

"Perfectly fine~. Alcohol sure is amazing… I think that would've hurt pretty much when being sober… Although, now I'm also not looking forward to tomorrow." She had the feeling that when she's sober again, it's going to hurt then.

"That's good, I guess…" Kagami wasn't sure how to feel. Then, she also tried to get out of the hammock. Unfortunately, there is only one thing harder than entering a hammock, and that's exiting one again. To make it short, she soon ended up lying next to Konata on the floor.

"Hey there, Kagamin~." She lightly greeted her partner next to her.

"Hey~." Not minding the situation, she simply greeted her back.

"On to the hot spring now?"

"Sure, I think we'll be able to manage that now…" Helping each other, the two were finally standing back on their feet after a long while. Stripping away one piece of clothing after the other from each other on the short way to the bath and ignoring the mess their clothes created on the terrace, the two entered the water after their struggle of getting naked was finally over.

"Wow, what a godly discovery hot springs are… Wait, is this magic?! It shouldn't be possible to feel immediately relieved again, can it?"

"What are you talk- Ahhh… I see now~… I'm alive again~. What's up with this?!" Kagami needed a minute longer to feel the effects of the hot spring, but once they kicked in, her facial expression melted and she deeper sunk down into the water.

"Haa~…" Konata had already ascended into heaven. It didn't take Kagami long to join her, and the two spend the next 10 minutes rejuvenating in the hot spring. Their maximum possible level of relaxing reach its peak soon, and the two started cuddling at some point. Kagami leaned against Konata and used her shoulder to rest her head on it.

"I don't think I've ever felt this relaxed before, Kona…"

"No objection from me there…" While the two continued to cuddle with each other, they started watching the scenery around them at some point. It being the middle of the night already, the surroundings felt completely different.

"Hey, is it just me or does that bamboo forest look slightly creepy, especially with the illumination now?" Kagami looked at the forest and criticized the idea of the inn to install a few lamps to illuminate parts of the bamboo.

"Uwah…" Konata looked at the direction Kagami was facing and immediately agreed with her evaluation.

"The forest had a certain charm to it during the day, but now…"

"Just look at something else then, Kagamin~." She placed a hand on Kagami's head and turned it in the direction Konata was looking before.

"Oh, you're right, that's way better." Just like Konata before, she was now looking in the direction of Mt. Fuji. In their line of view was a small town with a few lights and Mt. Fuji itself was illuminated in a couple spots that probably marked a walking trail or mountain huts as well.

"It really looks cool. Oh! How about we go and visit Mt. Fuji directly somewhere in the future?"

"It sounds like a nice trip for everyone together. Wait… That's not just your mountain fetish acting up again, right…?"

"M-Mountain fetish?! Ah~, you mean my training sessions back then? Nah, I've long accepted my position as the bottom in this relationship, Kagamin~."

"How about the term 'equal'?"

"Sure~, we can try that."

"Idiot…"

"Ehehe~." Konata chuckled at their conversation and looked up at the sky. "Wow~."

"Hmm… Wow~." Kagami looked up as well and had the exact same reaction. Not only was it a night with a full moon, that helped to look all the to Mt. Fuji earlier, but the starry night sky also was entirely clear. Uncountable amounts of stars shined brighter than the two ever saw before. Basically every constellation was easily distinguishable, and even the structure of the milky way itself was easy to recognize.

"Now that's a night sky."

"You can say that again…" Kagami was also overwhelmed by the sight.

"Now that's a night sky." She actually repeated it.

"Kona, that was just a figure of speech."

"Hmm, what was?"

"Nevermind…" Kagami just realized that Konata's brain was still far from working regularly again. She's still affected by the champagne as well, but Konata was way worse. Kagami just shrugged her shoulders and continued to watch the beautiful night sky together with Konata. She soon noticed that it was only the second most captivating thing to look at, though. Looking to the side, she instantly became mesmerized by Konata's neck. Kagami watched the droplets of water that formed on her neck due to the evaporating water of the hot spring, and when those droplets finally rolled down her collarbone, she couldn't take it anymore. Moving her head, she started kissing Konata's neck without any warning. It had taken a few seconds before Konata reacted because she was still a little tipsy after all, but she went into action soon enough. It was almost like a switch flipped inside of her and directly started an all-out attack. She moved on Kagami's lap this time and returned the attack on her neck. Kagami let have her way and changed the target. She wrapped her arms around Konata's waist and pulled her as close as possible. Having their naked bodies pressed against each other, Konata only got more fired up. Letting go of Kagami's neck, she started to work her way further down on her body.

"So much for being a bottom…" Kagami made a light joke about the conversation from earlier, but Konata was too busy to answer and absolutely not in the mood to talk in the first place. Kagami soon had no more leeway to talk as well anymore because the relentless attacks of her girlfriend slowly caused her breath to get rugged and decided to concentrate on her. She started kissing her back again, and one hand let go of Konata's waist before disappearing below the water surface. Konata noticed soon enough where the hand, especially the fingers ended up, but instead of letting it happen, she stopped kissing her and playfully pushed herself away from Kagami's lap. Kagami looked a bit confused, but she had no intention to let her go. With incredibly hungry eyes, she looked at Konata, but she returned her gaze with even more craving eyes. Noticing that, Kagami saw what was going on, stood up and grabbed Konata's hand. Giving her a mall nod, the two left the water and Kagami led her into the bedroom. This time, the two didn't even bother drying themselves up, and while creating a huge mess everywhere, both ended up on the bed. Ignoring all that because they had only eyes for each other, the two had one of the, if not the most heated up nights of the remaining year. The remaining alcohol maybe played a part in that as well, but that fact and that both basically had no sleep at all the remaining night was going to bite them back soon enough.

…

The next morning was a rough one. Even though they slept only a couple hours, it still ended up in both oversleeping even more than yesterday. The main reason for that was because it was already dawning when they fell asleep. Breakfast time was almost over already, but there has yet to come to any sign of life from the mess called bed. Konata lied just like a dog curled up at the foot end and Kagami was barely even on the bed with one arm, leg and her head hanging down from the side of it. She eventually fell off it completely, and that was also the signal for the two to wake up. Kagami landed on the floor with a not so nice sounding sound that woke Konata up with ease.

"Uhh…" Only some groaning noises could be heard from the floor next to the bed.

"You're still alive, Kagamin~…?"

"No, Kagamin~'s dead… What about you, Kona?"

"She's dead as well…"

"My entire body hurts… Not to mention all those bruises… Stupid hammock…"

"Well… you fell out like three times or so… That said, I only fell out once, or rather made to leave it, but I don't feel any better…"

"The only good thing is that my head doesn't hurt as much as I expected…"

"Yeah… is something I would like to say, but my head hurts quite a bit."

"Looks like I can take alcohol better that you, huh?"

"That isn't something to be proud of, though…" Konata was still jealous.

"Fair enough…" After sill not wanting to move in the slightest after a while, the two were getting hungry.

"I wonder how we're able to get breakfast now…"

"Good question…" As if on cue, the two suddenly heard a knock on the door.

"Dear customers, breakfast time is almost over. We're going to let our today's special on a tray in front of your door. Please get it soon."

"I love this inn…"

"Yeah…" Another ten minutes passed, and Kagami finally managed to pull herself up from the floor. Grabbing a big towel that was conveniently nearby, she wrapped it around her body and went to the door because she had no idea where her Yukata or any other articles clothing were. Making sure no one was in the hallway, she quickly secured their breakfast.

"Hmm… smells good…" Konata, equally wearing a towel only, entered the living room a little while later. "Do we have coffee?"

"You like coffee, Kona?"

"That totally doesn't matter at all right now…" She didn't want coffee for the taste, but for the effect instead.

"Sure, we have, but wow… your hair sure looks… interesting…" Kagami finally took a better look at Konata and noticed the amazing bed hair of hers.

"You haven't looked in a mirror yet, have you?" Her hair had equally exploded while sleeping.

"Good point…"

"So, what do we have here…" Konata sat down at the table and looked at the breakfast. On the contrary to yesterday, it was a more western style of breakfast today. Bacon, sausage, runny eggs, toast and sweet stuff like marmalade together with croissants. Greasy and sweet stuff, perfect for a hangover cure.

"Is it just me or is the Inn staff her strangely attentive."

"I think that's one of those secrets you better don't question, Kagamin~."

"You're probably right, I actually don't really want to know, now that I think about it."

"Yeah, you'll lose when you think too hard about it after all."

"I think so, too…" Not wanting to question the details behind the power of a first-class inn, the two continued eating their breakfast at a rather slow pace because they had yet to wake up fully. The coffee helped, but it wasn't nearly enough. They eventually finished eating and only two hours were left before they had to check out of their room.

"Hey, how about a last dip in the hot spring, Kagamin~?"

"Only if it's soaking only…"

"Do I look like I'm in the condition for more? I only want to relax a bit and maybe get rid of my sleepiness."

"Okay, let's go." The two went to the terrace and entered the hot spring the last time. Feeling the hot water on their bodies, both immediately felt their tension leaving.

"Haa~…" Konata had an ecstatic look on her face as she submerged her complete body.

"Absolutely…" Kagami didn't look much different. "What a weekend…"

"Yeah…"

"I think we overdid it a little yesterday, though."

"I think I'll agree with you once when it comes to overdoing…"

The two continued to soak in the hot spring for almost an hour, but it only partly had an effect. Their bodies did feel better, and they were way more relaxed, but if anything, the two felt even more tired after leaving the water again. Their time was running up, though. Grabbing their clothes that were still scattered all over the terrace from yesterday, they threw them into the bedroom and went into the bathroom. They had yet to get ready for the day, after all, not to mention to look somewhat presentable to the public. Packing everything that belonged to them and maybe an extra Yukata, the two were soon ready to leave their room for the first time in two and a half days. Taking a last look, the two checked out of the hotel and made their way to the bus station in front.

….

After riding different public transports for about two hours that didn't feel long at all because both napped basically the entire ride away while leaning onto each other's shoulder, they reached Kagami's station. Not wanting to continue to ride the train alone because the chance of her getting off at her own station was nonexistent, Konata left the train together with her and both went to Kagami's house. The two entered her house and were immediately spotted by someone who _coincidentally_ just walked through the hallway at the perfect time.

"My, what a coincidence~. Welcome home, you two." Miki lightly greeted them with a smile on her lips.

"Yeah, sure…" Kagami immediately saw through her. "Err, we're home, mom…"

"Hey~ Hey~."

"Konata, taking a break before heading home?"

"Nah… I'll probably stay here today… If I enter another train, I'll probably sleep without any chance to wake up until I reach Hokkaido eventually.

"I don't think that's possible, but I get what you mean. You do look tired, you as well, Kagami."

"I don't just look, I am…" While Kagami answered, the group went to the living room and sat down on the sofa.

"What happened? I was expecting you two to be as relaxed as humanly possible after coming home."

"Well, we are, but last night was a bit… uhm, complicated." Kagami tried to stay vague, but that made Miki only more curious.

"Hoh~, now I need details, girls."

"Ahaha…" Konata only laughed dryly because she saw it coming from a mile ago.

"Hmm…" Kagami looked troubled because she wasn't sure what to exactly answer.

"You know, the hickeys on both your necks are beyond obvious. I'm just saying, but hiding doesn't work like that. Also, the bruises on your arms and god know where else are also… What happened?"

"Haha…" Kagami joined Konata's dry laugh. "Well… We're tired because we had a rather interesting night after we maybe had our first contact with alcohol." She decided to confess the alcohol rather than the _other_ things that kept them awake. "Thanks to that, we're currently experiencing the remnants of a slight hangover…"

"Eh? You two drank alcohol?"

"Yes…" The girls meekly confirmed it together.

"How? I mean, the inn should've known that the two of you are a bit too young, right?"

"There might've happened a slight internal miscommunication. I asked the morning staff to prepare something special for dinner and the evening staff probably had no idea who we were or something like that…"

"I see, I guess things like that can happen, but you didn't feel like correcting them?"

"The staff was already gone when we saw the dinner and… well, we were slightly curious about it…" Kagami left out a few details.

"Also, having a romantic dinner together with a glass of champagne seemed like something of an obligation…" Konata added her own justification.

"Okay, that actually makes a bit of sense and, to be honest, I would've done the same in your situation. I'm not really angry, you two, making your own experiences is part of life after all, but I would be glad if you wait until you're old enough for the next time."

"That's absolutely no problem at all!" A firm answer came from Konata and Kagami.

"Ahaha, looks like you two really learned your lesson already, that's good. Still, that much after a single glass of champagne? You two sure are wimps." Completely and absolutely destroying her seriousness from a minute ago, Miki's parental concerns looked like a huge lie.

"Ehm, no, we had a bottle in one of those fancy metal ice buckets, and I actually think the bottle wasn't a standard sized one…"

"Ahh~, I see now, that makes a lot more sense." Miki immediately understood why they had a rough morning now. "Still, where are all those bruises coming from? Don't tell me you two are bad drunks?!"

"Nonono, Kagamin~'s super funny when drunk!"

"And Kona, although making no sense at all, was super cute!"

"Then…?"

"You see… We had this hammock on the terrace of our room and…"

"Wait… You tried to enter a hammock after emptying a bottle champagne? I almost broke my wrist once after that thing flipped when I tried to enter while being totally sober…"

"Look what I told you, Kona, hammocks are dangerous."

"Haha~, come on, we made it in the end, didn't we, Kagamin~."

"Sure… after I hit the floor two times when entering and once when exciting that thing…"

"Don't forget the time where you kicked me out of it…"

"That was your own fault for having the reaction time of and dead fish at that time, Kona!"

"Quick question…" Miki interrupted the playful bickering of the couple. "Are you two by any chance idiots?" That was the only thing going through her head while listening to them.

"Occasionally~." The ability to match their answer on the spot was as unparalleled as usual.

"Well, as long as you're having fun…"

"We are~."

"You know, there is a limit to being lovey-dovey…"

"There isn't~."

"Haa…" The two made her give up. "Anyway, tell me about the inn. Was it good?"

"It was incredible! The room was just so…" Kagami energetically started talking about their trip and the Inn. She mentioned the luxurious room, the delicious food and especially praised the terrace and hot spring bath outside. She obviously kept a few events hidden to herself when making her recap.

"Wow… way to make me jealous… I think I'll have a talk with my husband about this…"

"I highly recommend it~." The group kept talking about the inn for a while, but Kagami's sense of danger soon informed her about imminent trouble. She noticed that Miki had started staring at their necks with the hickeys again while having a smug smile. Miki was about to say something, but Kagami was faster.

"Haah… I'm still exhausted… How about another nap, Kona?"

"Huh? Okay, sure…" She didn't know what the sudden change in Kagami caused, but a nap didn't sound bad.

"Well, goodbye, mom." Kagami grabbed Konata's hand and dragged her out of the living room and directly upstairs to her own room before Miki even had the chance to react.

"That daughter of mine sure became good at this…" She sighed and looked a bit disappointed, but let them be for the time being.

….

Two hours passed and Miki decided to visit them in Kagami's room because she was still interested in all sorts of details after all. There was also the fact that Sojiro paid for their trip that had tickled her interest as well, but once she entered the room, she immediately discarded her plan. She saw the two peacefully sleeping on the bed and couldn't bear to wake them up. Kagami was using Konata as a body pillow as usual by wrapping her limbs around her body, and both had a happy smile on their lips.

"My, aren't those little perverts adorable?" She knew perfectly well what happened on the weekend after all anyway and so, she just watched them for a moment, but then quietly left the room with an equally sweet smile again.

* * *

.

Happy birthday, Kagamin~… and Tsukasa as well of course. I never thought I would be able to publish a chapter at the right time to meet a day in real life. The twins' birthday is supposed to be today (7. July) after all (Actual experiences may vary due to your time zone).

As said at the beginning, I didn't want this story to turn M-Rated… It just happened. Well, I wonder how many of you are a bit disappointed now because it's barely M, though… I had fun while was writing the anniversary and suddenly noticed that I might go to have a problem and when it came to the actual hot spring scenes, I was pretty sure of it. I liked what I wrote though, and so I decided not to edit half of the chapter and changed the age rating in the end after all. Some of you were probably expecting more, but this level of detail I went into here is all I'm comfortable with. It's not because I'm prude, I surely am not, but rather my lack of vocabulary. Describing those scenes in detail immediately become beyond awkward and cringy without the proper and more importantly fitting vocabulary(I think it was already becoming partially awkward... I have to learn some specific vocab soon). Googling them and hoping to pick the right word isn't much of a choice either. Well, I could write a detailed scene in German (my native language/country), but I don't think that'll help in any way at all (And no, fellow German reader, I could, but I won't). Also, leaving things up to the imagination by only giving a good push is nice on its own way. I'm not sure if more chapters are going to follow this one regarding M-Rated content, but I'll surely not hold back like in some previous chapters anymore.

….

Hammocks are dangerous! Trust me! (Maybe I'm just too stupid for them, but I'll ignore that possibility.)

Almost the entire drunk scene is based on a real event with me playing the part of Kagami… I'm pretty similar when it comes to alcohol. I can more or less continue to talk like normal, but I'm feeling a lot dumber, and my motor skills are basically dead at some point. Konata's also based on a real person, and just like her, she totally doesn't make any sense at all when drinking a certain amount. It's pretty funny, though. One day we actually tried to enter a hammock in my garden together, and it wasn't any fun at all. Well, it was on that evening, but the next day really wasn't, and we spent the entire day without moving at all…

….

On another, at least for now, relatively unrelated news to the story, something absolutely fantastic happened her in Germany last week. You may have heard it already, but our parliament voted to legalize same-sex marriages! We were pretty early to allow civil unions about 16 years ago, but after our current ruling party was elected, they always blocked accepting the actual marriage (That's what you get when you vote for a party that represents Christian morals, guys…). Our chancellor was against it, but after getting pressured and somewhat taken by surprise, she offered a free vote, and every other major party directly jumped at the opportunity and pulled through it only a few days later. Basically every other party voted yes, and even ¼ of the chancellor's own party agreed with a yes.

It doesn't change that much legally because the civil union we had here basically given the same rights (and duties), but it makes a huge difference. Being completely equal and allowed to say, 'this is my husband/wife' instead of simple 'partner' is something great among not being forced anymore to out oneself in official documents asking for the family status because it's now 'married' for everyone. Also, this allows married same-sex couples to adopt a child together. You could adopt children as a single person already and then still raise them together including a second adoption for the partner, but this also isn't the same.

There are probably some idiots going to file a suit claiming that the new law/same-sex marriages are illegal because of some bullshit, but I sincerely hope they're going to crash and burn in a very flashy way. (I actually became somewhat depressed by the stuff those people were writing…)

\- Our federal council also just approved the change of the marriage law just _minutes_ before posting this chapter. Today's another good day~.

…..

Another side note, the story has now broken the 250k wall. Also, I looked at the statistics a couple days ago and noticed that the story had 22,224 views. While I'm happy about the number, I was in a pretty bad mood for a while because I looked a couple minutes too late…

Wow, the rambling this time was longer than some of the one-shots posted here on FF…

To make it short, I hope you like the, slightly less tame chapter and don't mind the change to M-Rated. I liked them being more open after all.

I have more than a couple ideas for the next chapter already, but I'm not really sure what I'm going to use, and that's why no spoiler this time. Except, it's going to be about their summer break. I will try to keep the real date and story date in line now and summer holidays normally being around August, I'll do my best to get it ready somewhere next month after taking a short break that I originally wanted to do after ch. 34...


	37. Prelude to summer

A little over two weeks passed since the anniversary of Konata and Kagami. July was slowly nearing its end and summer break was already around the corner, starting in August.

As always, Kagami was at Konata's place and today seemed rather promising for the two. Sojiro had just left the house a couple minutes ago, and Yutaka was still at Minami's place. In short, they had the house all to them alone. Obviously, both directly used this rare chance, and the only thing the two left behind in Konata's room were their clothes before leaving for the bathroom to take a shower. They came back to Konata's room a not further mentioned while later and stopped in front of the bed. Konata gazed into Kagami's eyes who did the same before she gently pushed her down on the bed and immediately climbed on top of her. Kagami kissed her on the lips a few times before she slowly moved to the side and started playfully nibbling on Konata's earlobe. She was about to return Kagami's favor by going on the offense as well, but something very unfortunate happened at the exact same moment at the entrance of the house.

"Konata-oneechan, I'm home~."

"…" The two heard a cheerful sound coming from downstairs and immediately froze up. All the vigor from earlier seemed like a complete lie.

"… Seriously?!" Kagami was the first to react to the voice and seemed really angry about it.

"Looks like it…" Konata, as well, was far from being happy.

"Haa…" She let out a strained and annoyed sigh, and the two let go of each other before getting dressed in record time again. Sadly, they already had a lot of training when it comes to hastily getting dressed after being interrupted. Although, something was different from the other times now. Normally, they would've pretended that nothing happened by reading a manga or light novel in the room while waiting for the 'interrupter' to greet them, but today, Kagami didn't feel like doing so. Instead, she looked rather dangerous, and Konata instantly had a bad feeling about it.

"Kagamin~…" She tried to say something, but it was too late already.

"…" Without saying a single word, Kagami stood up from the bed and, unable to be stopped, left the room.

A couple minutes passed and a Yutaka was being pushed into Konata's room by a very forceful looking Kagami. She made Yutaka sit down at the table and sat down at the other side herself before inviting Konata to join them with her eyes only. Konata let out a defeated sigh and then took place right next to Kagami.

"Ehm… W-What's going on?" Yutaka had question marks floating above her head because she had no idea why Kagami had suddenly abducted her, or why she was facing the couple in Konata's room at the moment. She looked at Konata for answers, but she stayed silent while averting her eyes. It was Kagami's after all. Kagami also noticed that, and after rolling her eyes at the wimpiness of her partner, she focused her gaze on Yutaka who just became even more confused in return.

"Well…" Kagami thought about the right words and suddenly boxed Konata's shoulder without much force behind it. "The wimp here and I have something to talk about with you, Yutaka."

"Hey…" Konata weakly protested for a second but was splendidly ignored.

"Oh, what is it?"

"The thing is… Kona and I have been hiding something from you that we really shouldn't have until now…"

"Eh…?" Two more question marks joined the pack as she tilted her head a little.

"Kona and I aren't… _friends._ "

"W-What?!" Yutaka wasn't expecting that and looked beyond shocked.

"Ah, no, wait…" She realized the mistake of her wording. "Let me rephrase that… We aren't _just_ friends, is what I wanted to say. There's more to it that we haven't told you yet…"

"Oh, I see~… Don't scare me like that, Kagami-senpai… Hmm…?" Yutaka looked relieved for a moment, but then started thinking about something and then made a guess about the situation. "Ah, so you two are a couple after all, huh?" Completely without any warning, she dropped a bomb on them.

"Ye-… Eh…?" Kagami's eyes grew big as she became somewhat speechless from the shock of the completely unexpected statement. Konata's reaction was even much more extreme. Kagami poked her side a few times, but there was no reaction whatsoever because she had completely frozen up.

"Ehm… W-Was I wrong…?" Yutaka started to panic because she didn't understand the reaction of the two.

"N-No…" Contrary to Konata who was still completely out of it, Kagami had recovered relatively fast and was able to answer her. "You're right, that's exactly what I meant…"

"Oh, so it really was like that~. So many things are making sense now."

"That's true… H-Huh?! Wait, what?"

"The behavior of you two was always so confusing because it never felt like you two were just friends…"

"Ahaha, yeah, we're hearing that a lot, we were never good at hiding it."

"I can see that now. You know, I was really troubled because of that, Kagami-senpai… I wanted to be as good friends with Minami-chan as you and Konata-oneechan are, but something really felt off all the time."

"Come on, I already admitted that we're bad at hiding it, but I really don't think we're that much of a bad example on how friends interact with each other…."

"Uh…" Yutaka wasn't sure how to answer at first, but she then started a short recap of a few selected things she witnessed about the couple. "I think the first time I noticed that something was different when Konata-oneechan introduced me to you and gave the tour of the house…"

"T-The very first day we met?!" Kagami didn't expect to be under suspicion that early.

"I didn't know what it was back then, but… Well, your clothes were scattered all over the house, and I realized just now that it was obvious that you two were sharing a bed…"

"Uhh…"

"There's also how cuddly you two always are, or how often you are here, especially in the morning of weekdays, or how you usually take your baths together… Oh, or how you and Konata-oneechan often kiss as a goodbye when you actually do leave, Kagami-senpai…"

"I-I see… I guess that could raise a few questions… Wait! What was that at the end there, Yutaka?!"

"The kissing? You know this house better than I do, don't, you Kagami-senpai?"

"I-I suppose so?"

"Then you should also know that you have a really good view of the entrance from the kitchen, right?"

"Yeah, you can stop there… I get it… A-Anyway, why didn't you say anything, Yutaka?"

"About what?" She didn't understand Kagami's question. "By the way, what are you telling me about your relationship now?"

"Ah, oh, w-well…" Kagami began to hesitate because the topic wasn't exactly easy. "Y-You see, Kona and I are kind of having a problem ever since you moved in here, Yutaka…"

"Eh…? Did I do something wrong?"

"No, it's not really your fault. You know that Sojiro has to leave the house pretty often because of his work, right? Thanks to that, Kona and I had a lot of time for us alone, but ever since you're also here, Yutaka, we basically have no freedom at all anymore… With that, I mean, having no chance to be more… intimate…" She kept it somewhat ambiguous because it suddenly was way more embarrassing that she initially thought, but it only got worse.

"Hmm…? O-Oh…" Yutaka looked around in Konata's room and immediately turned red. Kagami and Konata's ability to get dressed in record time after almost getting caught actually had a very easy explanation because they had a trick for it. Yutaka's eyes stopped at the area next to the bed, and she was able to connect the dots between Kagami's complaints about being unable to be intimate and her person by the fact that she was currently looking at two sets of underwear. "I-I'm so sorry, Kagami-senpai!" She started apologizing with a bright red face. "I-I had no idea!"

"N-No, like I said, it's not really your fault, you don't have to apologize..." Kagami felt really bad about Yutaka apologizing for them being unable to have _fun._

"O-Okay… But, is there anything I can help with? After all, it maybe isn't my fault, but I'm, more or less, still the problem, aren't I?"

"Well, if possible, it would be great if you could leave the house more often when Sojiro's out as well. You know, having a better timing when visiting Minami, or Hiyori as well."

"Oh, sure, that shouldn't be a problem. I'll just pay more attention when he's gone now." Without any more questions asked, she directly agreed to the request.

"Thank you very much, Yutaka, it'll help us a lot." Kagami was really relieved and happy that they'll be able to spend some uninterrupted quality time in the future again.

"You're welcome… By the way…" Yutaka changed the topic and pointed at Konata. "Shouldn't we… do something about her?"

"Hmm?" Kagami looked straight into Konata's eyes that lost its shine a while ago but just shrugged her shoulders. "Nah, she's fine~. It happens from time to time when she isn't able to follow the situation anymore. She'll be back to normal soon enough."

"Okay… If you say so…" Yutaka simply believed her, and the two kept talking about various things for a couple minutes. Just as predicted by her, Konata started to show signs of life after a while again.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait…" She repeated herself more than just a few times. "W-What is going on here? W-What just happened? I'm dreaming, right? My cute little Yu-chan…" She went from shock right into panicking.

"What's wrong, Konata-oneechan?" She innocently asked while cutely tilting her head to the side.

"W-Where do I even start…?"

"About what?"

"Why is your reaction so light, Yu-chan? Why don't you have any questions? Aren't you embarrassed talking so openly about it? Aren't you surprised that I'm dating a girl? Who are you? Don't you have anything against it or don't even have a comment? Why, or how did you even come to the conclusion that we're a couple?!" It looked like Konata was still conscious about her surroundings when she froze up earlier. Kagami and Yutaka just looked at her for a while until the barrage of question ended and let her calm down a bit afterward.

"Uhm…" Yutaka wasn't sure what to answer first. "You see, I recently found out the pen name Hiyori-chan uses for her manga…"

"W-What?!" An unexpected answer came out.

"After that, I became really interested and tried looking it up on the internet…"

"Oh-oh…" Konata once more had a bad feeling.

"I actually found a couple of her older works and… and I won't easily be surprised ever again…"

"Y-Yu-chan, what exactly did you see?" Konata's bad feeling only got stronger.

"E-Ehm…" Yutaka suddenly began to furiously blush, and a cloud of steam erupted above her head.

"Au…" Konata's face also turned red, and she hid it behind her hands, but the reason for it was different. She simply wanted to die in shame. "D-Does Hiyorin know about that?" There was another girl who probably wants to die because of that as well after all.

"No, I haven't told her yet, why?"

"Good… She surely is going to have a heart attack…"

"Anyway…" Kagami wanted to bring the conversation to the initial topic again. "What do you think about it, Yutaka?"

"About what?" She didn't understand her question.

"I mean about Kona and me…"

"Yes…" She was still confused.

"More precisely, two girls dating and stuff…"

"Hmm? Is there something wrong with that?" Yutaka was completely oblivious and had no idea what Kagami's intention was.

"N-No, there's obviously no problem at all, but… Wow, I'm really impressed how open minded you are, Yutaka, and really happy about that."

"Open minded? Why?" Yutaka continued to fail to see what Kagami was trying to say.

"You really have no idea?"

"?" She only tilted her head again.

"You see, two girls dating, or boys, isn't really that common and often seen as something… bad…"

"Eh? Really? Well, I think I haven't seen it in public now that you mention it, but… in Hiyori-chan's manga, it seemed perfectly normal and fine…"

"Well, it's fiction, and that's often different from the real world. In our society, same sex couples are often looked down on by a fraction of them because they can't accept them and…" Kagami continued to explain Yutaka how a certain part of society sees them and with every mentioned detail, Yutaka looked more and more confused.

"Wait a moment, Kagami-senpai… Is that really true? Why are there so many idiots out there? Is this planet still okay?"

"Ahaha~, that's a very good question." It was something the couple had asked themselves as well already. "Well, our group of friends and family are very tolerant and supporting, and so, we actually can't complain that much. To be honest, we really don't care about anyone else we don't know. Sure, we obviously would be really happy if the discrimination was completely gone, but I guess you know what I mean…"

"Yeah… In the first place, I really don't get their problem at all." Yutaka failed to see the nonexistent issue. "I'm totally fine with it, that's for sure."

"Thank you very much, Yutaka."

"Yeah, thanks, Yu-chan."

"Well, it's easy to see how happy you two are, especially Konata-oneechan, compared to two or so years ago. There's no way I couldn't support it even if I would understand the problem…"

"T-There's no need to mention the past here, Yu-chan~." Konata simply wanted to forget about that.

"Ehehe~." Yutaka chuckled a little when she saw Konata pouting, but she was quickly silenced by her. Konata left her place, walked up to her and started hugging Yutaka out of nowhere who quickly returned it without knowing why.

"Really, thank you, Yu-chan. I'm so proud of you…" Konata never really thought that Yutaka's going to be a problem, but it's still relieving to see that it's actually true. Furthermore, knowing just how much she didn't care about it and even didn't understand the problem was amazing and admirable in her eyes. She just had to hug her. Kagami watched them with warm eyes, but Konata suddenly grabbed her hand and dragged her into the hug. She didn't hesitate and gladly let it happen. The three stayed in the embrace for a while and the couple felt incredibly blessed by their supporting environment. They parted soon enough and sat down at the table once they were back to normal again.

…

"More importantly…" Yutaka changed the topic after they went quiet for a while. "Have you two already planned something for summer break?"

"…" Konata and Kagami just looked at each other before they started laughing. "Ahaha, 'more importantly', she says… You're really great, Yu-chan."

"Absolutely…" Kagami also liked how the plans for the summer were more important than their relationship that differs a little from the norm. "I think we're free for most of the time because we haven't really planned anything. Why are you asking, Yutaka?"

"Do you have plans, Yu-chan?"

"Yes~." Yutaka happily started talking about the summer plans of her group. "Minami-chan's family owns a forest cottage at a scenic place near a lake, and they said we could use it for a couple days if we wanted to."

"Heh~? How nice…" Konata clearly sounded envious.

"Stupid rich people… First Miyuki and now Minami as well… That place where they're living really is loaded, huh?" Kagami openly complained, but it was more than obvious that she was jealous as well.

"Do you two want to come with us?" Yutaka invited them to go together.

"Well, I would happily agree, but we would feel bad to intrude on your trip…"

"That's no problem at all. Miyuki-senpai is coming with us anyway because Minami-chan's parents only allowed us to go when she's looking after us, and Tsukasa-senpai also sounded really eager to go when we asked the two at Miyuki-senpai's place earlier. That's why we decided to invite all of the senpai group anyway. It's also more fun if the group is bigger, isn't it?"

"Really? If that's how it is, we obviously accept, right, Kagamin~?"

"Sure, sounds good after all."

"Great!" Yutaka was happy that they agreed and afterward started talking about the details of the trip. Once the most important things were clarified, Yutaka wanted to leave the couple alone and was about to exit the room when Konata suddenly stopped her again.

"Ah, Yu-chan, about what we talked earlier… About Kagamin~ and me, please try to keep it to yourself, okay?"

"Sure."

"I don't really mind if you tell Minami about it, I actually think she's already suspicious, but, well, no one else, okay?"

"Okay."

"Especially not Hiyorin."

"Why not? I don't think she would say anything bad."

"Nono, I just don't want you to be alone with her when she finds out, that's all." Konata has no idea what's going to happen once Hiyori finds out that she and Kagami actually are a couple and weren't simply teasing her. She only knew that it's probably going to be dangerous for Yutaka alone.

"Oh, I see…?" Once the topic was over, Yutaka finally left Konata's room, and the couple were alone again.

"Well, that talk was easy~."

"…" Kagami just looked at Konata in disbelief at what she just said and sighed. "Shut up, idiot."

* * *

.

And here's another short(er) chapter. It was a random idea that floated through my head and didn't really fit in the next chapter because it's going to be too much again. It does work pretty well as a prelude to the summer break chapter, though.

Poor Konata, she really is useless sometimes when it comes to things she didn't expect. Just like everyone else in this story, Yutaka also has a hidden side to her. She may be naïve and pure on the surface, but she really isn't as innocent as Konata thought she is.

(Not so) Fun fact: This chapter completely happened on a whim while I was enjoying my break. I haven't even started the summer break chapter, and I have absolutely no idea when it's going to happen, much less when it's finished. The only thing I know at the moment is that Hiyori is going to suffer a lot of damage. Mainly mentally… Besides maybe the blood loss from her nose, that is...


	38. Another summer trip (Part 1)

A little over a week of summer break already passed and until now, it was rather uneventful or rather, nothing different from the norm happened in that week. That being said, Kagami had not stayed a single day at her home, the Hiiragi house, that is. Up until now, every single day, and not to mention night was spent at Konata's house, much to the delight of that person.

The day of the girls' summer trip arrived, and the plan was for everyone to meet up at Minami's place in the morning before traveling together to the forest cabin. Most of them had already arrived before the appointed time because everyone was looking forward to it, but a certain couple was late. It was rather early in the morning, and Kagami's still extremely bad with waking up when sleeping with Konata. The two arrived about half an hour late and made everyone wait for them.

"Ah, there they are…" Hiyori was the first to greet them after the two finally entered the living room of Minami's house. "What happened?"

"Well… Kagamin's pretty bad at waking up as usual…"

"Oi!"

"And… What does that have to do with you being late as well, Konata-senpai?"

"I can't possibly continue to let her sleep alone in my bed while going here on my own, can I?"

"Oh, yeah, that makes sense…" Hiyori just absentmindedly nodded.

"Not that I _could_ 've left, but that's a different story…" It's impossible for Konata to free herself out of Kagami's grip before she wakes up after all.

"Mmmn~… I see…" Hiyori's left eyelid started to twitch a little. "S-So you two had a sleepover, I suppose?"

"Yes, a 'sleepover' does kind of fit, but, to be exact, it not just yesterday, but the entire last week already."

"T-That's cool…" The twitching got stronger.

"Is something wrong, Hiyorin?" Konata acted extra cute and innocent while asking so.

"N-No, everything's fine…" Hiyori slapped her cheek once and regained a bit of her composure. "Senpais, your teasing's sometimes way too extreme, you know…?" She addressed Kagami and Konata at the same time. Konata maybe was the one talking, but Kagami was still somewhat tired, and so she was leaning onto her shoulder the entire time while yawning. Doing her best to preserve her last bit of her sanity, Hiyori decided to brush it off again.

"Sure…" Konata felt somewhat sorry and stopped saying more while thinking that it's maybe time to tell her. Looking at Kagami at her side and confirming it with a nod, the two decided to tell her about their relationship on the upcoming trip.

Miyuki and Tsukasa were watching the complete conversation with somewhat envious eyes. Although being not quite as intense as Konata and Kagami, the two still had the same relationship as the two and seeing them being so lovey-dovey without minding anyone, made them almost jealous. At the same time, though, they were also somewhat happy not being the center of attention all the time and so, watching the idiot couple, left them once more with mixed feelings.

After everything was over, the group finally left Minami's house almost an hour late, and they made their way towards the forest cabin.

…..

Luckily, the delay caused by Kagami and Konata wasn't that much of a problem for the trip. The girls only had to ride a bus for about half an hour, and so they just took the next one. Even though their destination was just half an hour away, the scenery had still completely changed, and the only signs of civilization were the road the bus drove on, and the small hut that worked as the station where the girls exited. Other than that, there was just green as far as the eye reached in every direction.

"Wow, it's so peaceful out here…" Yutaka voiced out everyone's opinion on the scenery.

"Yes, I always liked being here because it's so nice and quiet." Minami agreed with her. "Well then, let's go." She guided the group alongside a nature trail that soon led them into the forest. The girls were excitedly looking around while trying to spot animals and the like, but Konata and Kagami were lagging a bit behind the group. Minami noticed that, and while the others were still busy with looking around and chatting, she decided the chance to join them.

"Oh, hey Minami, is something wrong?" Konata noticed her and asked why she joined them.

"N-No… Everything's fine…" She was clearly nervous about something, and the two didn't fail to notice that.

"Okay… What is it, Minami?"

"Ah… W-Well… Yutaka-chan told me… something a little over a week ago…" She became redder with every spoken word. "I-Is it true that… that you two are a… couple?" While looking extremely embarrassed, she timidly finished asking her question.

"Yep~."

"That's true." They had no intention to hide it at all.

"Wow… That's… I wasn't sure if Yutaka-chan was telling the truth, but… wow…" She was struggling to find the right words.

"Shocked~?" Konata decided to tease her a little. Normally, it would've been okay to feel offended by her spoken words, but one glance at Minami's strangely happy looking face made clear that she was only a little awkward without any ill will at all.

"N-No, not really shocked… 'Surprised' probably is a more fitting word, I guess…"

"Is that so? By the way, Minami-chan~, why are you looking so happy? You're smiling from ear to ear there." As usual, Konata was having a lot of fun.

"W-Wha-?! Am I really…?" She touched her cheeks and immediately realized it. "I-I'm sorry, I just got a little too excited…"

"No problem~. Speaking of which, why _are_ you so excited and interested in it, Minami? Don't tell me you also have someone you like~?" Konata did her best to keep her voice normal, but she was already pretty bubbly about the whole thing.

"Hmm? I'm just really interested in the whole topic, Konata-senpai…"

"Ehhh?!" Konata wasn't sure how Minami would react to her teasing, but this definitely wasn't what she hoped for. Not only did she easily brush it off, but she also didn't expect her to be excited to this degree about romance topics. Kagami grinning at her with a smug look wasn't helping with her disappointment either.

"Y-You two are the first… same-sex couple I ever met in person after all…"

"I-Is that so…?" Konata looked at Miyuki and Tsukasa at a slight distance in front of them and felt a little awkward because she's much more intimate with Miyuki than her and Kagami.

"Yes, I only read about it in books, or TV, or… the mangas Hiyori-chan drew that Yutaka-chan showed to me…" Her face got redder again near the end.

"You two… okay…" A picture of those two looking at lewd yuri mangas briefly floated through her mind, but Konata immediately pushed them away because she didn't want to end up like Hiyori, or even more like her.

"H-How is it… dating a girl… as a girl yourself…?"

"Uhh… Even if you ask me… I don't have anything to compare it with, nor do I want to… But, you're together with the person you like after all, so I suppose there isn't that much of a difference of feelings in the end. Well… Aside the part where my partner is cuter, softer to the touch compared to boys, and of course has boobs, I guess…"

"I'm not sure how I should feel about that…" Kagami wasn't entirely happy with that comparison.

"B-Boobs…" Minami shortly was concerned with something that bothered her greatly, but quickly came back to the topic. "Ah, I see… It's only logical, and the circumstances are only a little different. You like the person you like, and that's it, right?" Ignoring most of the comparison, Minami concentrated on the core part.

"Well… Yes, that's how it works on the surface, sure… But, if we weren't into girls in the first place, it surely wouldn't have happened because there would've been no romantic interest between us. Yes, we started out as simple friends as well, but that just led us to realize our sexuality in the end when we fell for each other…"

"Although, it's pretty easy to fall for a girl like her, isn't it, Minami?"

"Ahaha…" Minami wasn't sure how to react to Kagami's comment after listening to Konata's explanation, and so she just let out a dry laugh before continuing. "That's what I meant with different circumstances, Konata-senpai. If you prefer girls and fall in love with one, just like you said, you simply like the person you like, right? Nothing more, nothing less."

"Yeah… Saying it like that, it works…" Konata preferred this description much more.

"B-By the way…" Minami wanted to ask something else, but a certain someone finally sensed the embarrassment radiating from her. Without even looking back, Hiyori in front of them stopped walking, and the three girls quickly caught up to her.

"You called, Minami?"

"E-Eh?" She didn't recall ever calling her.

"You didn't? Weird… I total felt that my presence was needed here…"

"Wow…" Konata quietly mumbled a word of admiration to Hiyori's yuri sensor.

"Not really…"

"Well, now that I'm here already, what's the topic?" She still felt that something of great interest was going on here.

"O-Oh… W-Well… T-That's… Uh… Huh?! I think Yutaka-chan called me just now…" Minami started to panic and awkwardly decided to flee.

"Uhh… Okay then… That was weird. What was that about, Konata-senpai?"

"Ahaha… That's a long story. You'll find out about it soon enough, Hiyorin."

"Ehh? Very suspicious… I'll get back to that later, but first…." She looked at Yutaka next to Minami, who was blushing as well for some reason now and figured that this was more interesting for the time being. "If you'll excuse me now, senpai…"

"Our first years sure a something…" Kagami let out a sigh once the two were alone again.

"Yep… Especially Minami is far more interesting than I first thought…"

"That's true…"

"A talkative and blushing kuudere is kind of cute…" Konata suddenly entered otaku mode and was pretty fascinated by Minami just now, compared to the usual expressionless and somewhat cold one.

"Yeah… I-I mean, what? I mean, what's a kuudere? I-I mean, shut up!"

"Ahaha~, my Kagamin~'s still unparalleled, though."

"…" Kagami decided to stay silent because she knew herself well enough to know that she would only make it worse if she continued talking. Simply admitting defeat was the wiser choice.

Just like that, the two caught up to the group, and they continued to walk for a while until Konata felt like complaining about something.

"It's sooo hot and humid out here…" Not only got the heat that entered the forest got trapped in there, making the shade of the trees useless, but all those plants also made the place unbelievably humid and uncomfortable. "Are we there yet, Minami?"

"I'm sorry, it'll take a little longer…"

"Come on, Kona, don't be such a child…" Kagami tried to cool her down, but her method was highly questionable. She grabbed Konata, hugged her from behind and both continued walking like that. "And, any better now?"

"How's that supposed to be any better? When did you, hugging me ever cooled me down?" Konata had no idea what was going through Kagami's head. "Did the heat got you as well?"

"Should I stop then~?"

"Hmm…" She looked like it was a really hard decision. "No, I think I'll allow it for now."

"How generous of you." Despite the slight sarcasm in her words, she gave Konata a little squeeze from behind.

"Well, that's just how I am~."

"Oh, shut up~."

While the two continued to blatantly flirt with each other, Hiyori was watching them with great interest but was confused by the show as well. She was under the firm conviction that Konata and Kagami were doing those things simply to tease her, but she realized just now that those two weren't even paying attention to her. She frantically flapped her arms around to get the attention of the other girls to get them to look at the couple, but everyone was ignoring the two and Hiyori as well for some, to her, unknown reason. Thanks to that, Hiyori wasn't able to get any questions answered by the group. Dejected, she gave up and convinced herself that the couple is just good at deceiving her.

…..

The group continued to walk for about ten more minutes, and it slowly felt like the forest began to open up. Once they realized that, Minami also spoke up and announced that they had reached their destination.

"Aaand there we are…" The last few trees obstructing the view disappeared, and a huge, almost crystal-clear lake appeared in front of them. The lake was completely surrounded by the forest they were wandering through, and a thin line of a sand beach stretched around the water.

"Rich people sure don't do things half-heartedly…" Kagami got a little jealous again.

"Ahaha…" Everyone decided to ignore Kagami, and after walking a short distance alongside the lake, they arrived at the cabin.

"Like I said, rich people are…"

"Stop being jealous and shut up already, Kagamin~." Kagami wanted to complain again, but Konata quickly stopped her while everyone else was simply amazed.

The group was looking at a cozy timber cabin located between the forest and the lake. A long, wooden pier, connected to the terrace of the cabin, reached into the lake, and a couple canoes in different colors were towed onto it. Everyone took in the view for a moment before continuing.

"Okay, let's go inside then." Minami guided them into the living room, and everyone sat down on the sofas there.

"Good, how about we go for a swim now?" Konata was still feeling hot, and the lake outside looked really appealing to her.

"Calm down, Kona, there are other things to do first. Minami, where are we going to sleep for starters?"

"Ah, right… Well, there's a bit of an inconvenience… We only have three rooms to use… My suggestion is that us first years use the bigger room together and the senpais are going to use the other two if that's okay with everyone."

"No problem~." Konata grabbed Kagami's shoulder and immediately claimed one of the rooms for the two of them.

"We're okay with that as well." Miyuki and Tsukasa also had nothing to complain.

"Konata-senpai, Kagami-senpai…" Hiyori suddenly popped up between the couple and started whispering. "Hey, is it possible for me to stay in your room? I want Yutaka and Minami to be alone. I'm sure something great will happen then~."

"Nope, not going to happen." The two didn't even need a second to react to turn her down in an instant.

"Ehh, why not?"

"Multiple, very complex reasons, but the most important is that we don't want to."

"You know, the ability of you two to perfectly sync your speech and saying exactly the same is pretty impressive… and somewhat scary."

"Hehe…" The two only laughed a little.

"Too bad…" Hiyori looked disappointed.

"Look at it this way, Hiyorin, maybe, if they enter their own little world, you'll be able to freely watch them from the best position."

"Ah! I hadn't thought about that at all! As expected of Konata-senpai, you know your stuff."

"S-Sure…" Konata simply nodded in agreement to get over with it. Hiyori was now happy with the room arrangements as well, and so, everyone went to check out their rooms.

After looking around a bit, Kagami and Konata started unpacking their stuff. That normally would've been an easy and uneventful task, but these two aren't like that. After emptying her backpack, Konata carelessly tossed it on the floor, and when Kagami turned around, she stumbled over it. Falling in such an artistic way that even Olympic gymnasts would get jealous over, she managed to knock over Konata as well, and both _accidentally_ ended up on the bed. Kagami was on top of her, and for some reason, she didn't look like she was going to move anytime soon.

"Hey there, Kagamin~." Konata had no idea what's going on because it happened so fast, but she wasn't particularly bothered by it.

"Hey~." Kagami was even less bothered by it. More than that, she seemed to enjoy the situation. While closing her eyes with a mischievous smile, she lowered her head and started attacking Konata's lips.

"Mmmn~." For Konata, the whole thing was a perfect template scenario she saw coming with the development, and as a result, she wasn't dazed and immediately wrapped her arms around Kagami's neck while returning the attack. They continued to make out for a few short minutes, but the two actually managed to restrain themselves after realizing where they were right now.

"I-I think we should stop, for now, Kona… During the day… and more importantly, without a locked door is a little…" Kagami looked hesitant, but she had a point.

"Easy for you to say, being the one who started it and all…" Konata was extremely disappointed.

"It was an accident, okay?"

"You _accidentally_ started making out with me?"

"Well… I accidentally pushed you down on the bed and… the rest just kind of happened, I guess? I simply couldn't help myself after seeing you below me…"

"So… you accidentally fell, pushed me down and then _accidentally_ attacked me as a response because of your instincts? What are you? A harem protagonist?"

"What harem protagonist actually pulls through it after having a lucky pervert moment?"

"Fair point… You certainly are no wimp…"

"I'm a girl of action after all." She looked pretty smug while saying so.

"Did I tell you that I love you already?"

"I'm not going to complain if you repeat it once more, Kona~."

"I love you, my perverted, _not so closet anymore,_ otaku."

"That's not what I hoped for, but I'll take it for now. I love you as well, my equally perverted, _not even trying to be closeted even if I would prefer it sometimes,_ otaku." The original topic was already long lost, and the two just kept flirting for a while until they heard a knock on the door.

Hiyori entered the room and looked around while being a little confused. Kagami was still on the bed, but Konata was currently on the floor picking up her backpack and a few of her clothes that Kagami knocked over as well earlier. Aside from their still somewhat disheveled clothes and hairs, nothing looked remotely suspicious.

"Oh, Hiyorin, what brings you here?"

"That's a good question…"

"Eh?"

"I was in the kitchen to get something to drink, but I sensed something and hurried back to our room where Minami and Yutaka still are, but something made me stop here…"

"What…?"

"Man, ever since I got to know you two, my yuri sensor is seriously messed up! I hope you're going to take responsibility for that!"

"We'll see about that…"

"Anyway, if you'll excuse me now, I need to get back to my room to see what's going on there." Just like that, Hiyori disappeared again, and the couple could finally start laughing.

"Ahaha, Hiyorin really is great~."

"I almost feel sorry for her… almost. So perspective and blind at the same time…"

"I think I'm seriously going to miss that after telling her the truth…"

"It's time, though."

"Yeah…" Once they stopped laughing, the two fixed their wrinkled clothes and decided to go back to the living room where the others showed up as well one after another.

….

After everyone met up and sat down on the sofas, they decided to discuss some organizational details.

"Okay, I think we should do something like a cooking plan. Any volunteers?"

"Kagamin~ and I can take care of dinner today. Other than that, use me however you like."

"Oh, we should seriously consider this offer, girls. Kona-chan's cooking is at a professional level."

"Like you're any less good, Tsukasa."

"Ehehe, sweats are my specialty, though…"

"Anyway…" Kagami felt like Konata and Kagami were slowly getting off topic. "How about breakfast is prepared by whichever group shows up first in the kitchen in the morning and the other meals are decided on when it's time for them?"

"I think that should work." Minami agreed with Kagami's plan.

"Oh, are they any fish in the lake? How about we go fishing and grill them on one day?" Hiyori thought it was a good idea, but the response wasn't that great.

"No!" Konata and Kagami immediately started protesting.

"Eh? Why not?"

"Ahaha… Kona-chan and onee-chan had a bad experience with fishing once." Tsukasa took over the explanation.

"What happened?"

"Not that much… We four tried out fishing last year on a trip as well. Kona-chan and onee-chan made a contest out of it and made a bet on who of the two could catch the most fish… In the end, Yuki-chan and I caught quite a lot of them, and those two had not a single bite. Ever since then, they had sworn to never fish again."

"Ahaha, what a story~." Hiyori had fun listening to it.

"Shut up!" Konata and Kagami not so much.

Hiyori and Tsukasa as well were enjoying the reaction of the couple for a moment, but the group soon decided to go outside after the food question was answered to explore a bit. They first looked around on the terrace, but the pier was far more interesting for most of them. As they walked along the pier on top of the lake, the group had a good view of the water.

"Wow, the water looks so clean…" Kagami seemed pretty fascinated by it.

"You know, Kagamin~, seeing you lean over the water like that, kind of wants me to push you into it…" Konata stood next to her and teased her a little. "You should be happy that I'm not… WAHHH!"

"Ahaha~." Not even reacting to Konata's teasing, Kagami simply extended her arms and effortlessly pushed Konata into the water without a second thought. Her plan didn't exactly work as planned, though. "Heeyyy!" The next thing the group saw after Kagami's scream was not one, but two big splashes in the lake and two people were missing. While Konata was falling, she somehow managed to grab Kagami's hand and pulled her down with her.

"Oh~, the water feels really nice. That was a good idea, Kagamin~."

"I'll kill you, Kona~." She was smiling, but her words sounded rather scary.

"W-Why?! You're the one who pushed me? I merely took you with me…"

"When was I ever reasonable?" Her _smile_ looked a lot warmer already.

"Fair point… I almost forgot about that…"

"Oi!"

"What? I'm only agreeing with you here… I forgot again already, huh? You're unreasonable after all~."

"Idiot…" It was impossible for Kagami to stay angry at this dork and simply started splashing water at Konata who quickly returned the attack. For a while, the two simply kept splashing water at each other while laughing. The completely ignored group of girls watched them with warm eyes while doing so. Hiyori was a bit of an exception, though. Once again, she was pretty confused about the whole situation.

"Okay…" She slowly started to break down and began mumbling to herself. "A-Are they actually…? No, no, no… No way… What am I even thinking)! I really have to stop fantasizing about friends in that way… Although, they really aren't making my life easy… But what if…"

"-yori-chan…? Hiyori-chan?" Yutaka was calling her name, but there was no reaction. "Hiyori-chan!"

"H-Huh?! Eh… y-yes? What is it?" She finally snapped back to reality and reacted to Yutaka.

"We're going back to change into our swimsuits. Looking at those two, it made us want to go swimming as well. Are you coming with us?"

"S-Sure, let's go…" Hiyori gave up on the two in the water and went back to the cabin with the other girls.

Kagami and Konata were having some more fun on their own for a few more minutes, but soon decided to follow the others.

"Let's get out as well, Kona, my clothes are feeling really uncomfortable…" Kagami started to climb back on the pier and held out her hand to help up Konata as well.

"Thanks… Yeah, and clothes are getting super heavy when wet…" Konata left the water as well, and both were standing with dripping wet clothes clinging to their skin on the pier. "Although, I have to admit that it's a sight for sore eyes~." She wasn't even trying to hide it.

"Shut up pervert."

"And just where are you looking the entire time, Kagamin~?"

"…" Without saying a single more word, she simply started walking towards the cabin.

"What a girl…" With a smile on her lips, Konata quickly followed after her.

…..

After only taking twice as long as one normally needs to change into a bikini, the couple arrived at the pier again where the others were already waiting for them in their swimsuits.

Miyuki was wearing a rather plain white and black striped bikini, but thanks to her rather outstanding figure, the sight was everything except boring.

Kagami's bikini was entirely colored in a dark blue and rather plain as well, thanks to its single color and not that revealing cut, but she didn't want to impress anyone anyway. Looking at Konata's face, she still knew that it was more than good enough.

Tsukasa's bikini was a lot more playful. The base color was red and attached to the top, and bottom pieces were some frills with a black hem as a finish.

Interestingly enough, Konata was wearing the exact same bikini, except for the detail that the hem of her frills was white instead of Tsukasa's black.

The first years were a little different from their senpais. Every single one of them was wearing their dark blue school swimsuit for some reason.

"Man, they're allowed to wear their school swimsuits, huh?" Konata saw the three girls and immediately started complaining to Kagami in a low voice because she wasn't allowed to wear hers the last time they went swimming together.

"Not that again… Think about it from my perspective, Kona."

"Hmm?"

"I don't see the appeal of school swimsuits, like at all…"

"And…?" She didn't see the connection.

"It wouldn't be any fun for me if you would be wearing one, Kona… But, right now, I'm having a lot of fun~."

"Ahh… I see…" Just like that, Konata forever stopped complaining that she isn't allowed to wear her school swimsuit outside of school. While the two were having their silent conversation, two others were talking about something as well.

"Yuki-chan, the bikini looks really good on you…"

"T-Thank you, Tsukasa-san. You look really cute as well…"

"Ehehe~." Both were smiling from ear to ear with an embarrassed blush on their cheeks. It was only a short exchange of sweet words, but the pink space surrounding them was already lethal and quickly claimed its first victim.

"T-Thank you very much for the treat~." Hiyori wasn't expecting such a scene from those two and got caught completely off guard. That being said, it was definitely a happy surprise for her.

"Ah!"

"O-Oh…" The two snapped back into reality and became even more embarrassed. They're normally pretty good at hiding their attraction to each other, but the swimsuits unconsciously made Tsukasa and Miyuki loosen up a bit too much. While the two were looking for an excuse in panic, Konata saved them.

"Oi, first years, what's up with the triple partner look?" She came back to the swimsuits.

"W-Well, it's my first time going swimming with friends, and I had no idea what to wear, and so I thought it was a safe choice…" Yutaka's explanation made sense to some degree, but mainly because it was too sad, no one said anything more.

"Ah, wait a moment, Kona…" Kagami suddenly interrupted her. "Speaking of partner looks, why are you and my sister wearing the same bikini?" She was bothered by it the moment she saw the two and finally said something.

"That's pretty easy to explain… We went shopping for a bikini together and decided on a whim to get a matching one."

"Huh? When did that happen?" There shouldn't have been any chance for Konata and Tsukasa to be alone together without Kagami noticing.

"Ahaha… Remember a couple days after Yu-chan invited us to this trip? You made me promise to study on my own at home because there was a test upcoming and you, unfortunately, had to help out at your shrine for a few hours?"

"Yeah…"

"As it turns out, I didn't study at all~. Tsukasa didn't need to help out and showed up at my place because she wanted to go with me."

"I see…"

"I'm sorry, onee-chan…" Tsukasa apologized because she kept Konata from studying.

"Don't worry, there was absolutely no chance she would study anyway…"

"Ehehe~, my Kagamin~ knows me after all."

"Still… I know how much you hate studying, Kona, but you actually preferred going shopping together with Tsukasa?"

"It wasn't an easy decision, I can assure you that…" Shopping with Tsukasa usually isn't an easy task.

"Come on, you had fun as well, Kona-chan." Tsukasa started pouting.

"Yeah… it was kind of fun trying all those bikinis on together and finding the right one…"

"Heh~?" For some reason, Kagami wasn't smiling at all.

"Jealous?"

"N-No… W-Why would I?" Kagami denied it, but started whispering at the same time. "Consider yourself lucky it was Tsukasa you accompanied, though…" She was jealous, very jealous and Tsukasa being the only safe person on the planet, Konata was barely safe.

"W-We'll invite you next time."

"Good."

"M-Minami…" Konata decided to quickly change the topic. "What about you? Why are you wearing a school swimsuit as well?"

"W-Well… because my figure is…" She said nothing and just patted her chest with a sad expression. "… I decided to use whatever I already have because it makes no difference anyway…"

"Frills, Minami, frills." Konata knew exactly what she was talking about. "Trust me, those make even nothing look somewhat reasonable." She pointed at herself while saying so.

"Yes, yes!" Tsukasa energetically nodded in agreement. She was way bigger than Konata, but she's still on the small side, and so, frills are her best friend as well.

"T-That's really good to know. I'll keep that in mind." It was only faint, but a relieved smile was clearly visible on Minami's lips.

"Last, but not least, what about you, Hiyorin?" Konata already had a pretty good idea on why, but she asked anyway.

"What are you even asking, Konata-senpai?! It's a school swimsuit! It would be heresy if I wouldn't have worn it!"

"Fair point."

"No, it isn't!" Kagami didn't agree with her.

"Nonono, you just don't understand the beauty of a school swimsuit, Kagami-senpai."

"You're right, I don't, and I also don't want to."

"I'm with Hiyorin on this." Konata stopped complaining that she isn't allowed to wear one, but that doesn't mean she stopped liking them as well.

"Haa…"

"A comrade~!"

"Absolutely!" While the two hardcore otakus were energetically discussing the gloriousness of school swimsuits, Kagami grew more and more impatient. A couple minutes and she finally couldn't take it anymore.

"Okay, that's enough!" Moving closer to Konata, Kagami pushed her again towards the water to forcefully end this discussion. Once more, Konata didn't want to go down without a fight.

"Waaahhh!" It wasn't Kagami's scream that the group heard. Konata made a slight error and grabbed the wrong hand while falling. Thanks to that, her comrade also ended up in the water.

"Kagamin~, that's already bullying, isn't it?! What are… eh?" Konata hadn't even noticed that she grabbed the wrong person. "Hiyorin? What are you doing here?" She looked at the girl right in front of her in the water.

"You took the wrong person down with you, Konata-senpai."

"Oh… I'm sorry about that. Kagamin~!" Noticing that she got the wrong person, she turned towards the pier and started splashing water at Kagami. Hiyori, not having anything better to do, simply joined in on the fun.

"You two…" After being thoroughly drenched in water, Kagami had enough, jumped after the two and pushed them below the water surface while landing between them.

"Ahaha…" The two resurfaced again and resumed their water attack. Kagami didn't let them have all the fun alone and attacked back with all her might. Water splashed in every direction and even the girls on the pier were all wet now.

"Let's go, Yuki-chan!" Tsukasa didn't want to leave all the fun to the tree in the water and urged Miyuki to join them. She was a bit reluctant at first, but Tsukasa simply grabbed her hand, and both jumped in the water together.

"S-Shall we go as well…?"

"S-Sure…" Minami and Yutaka were overwhelmed by the events for a minute or two, but then decided to join as well. They were a lot more timid, though. Sitting down on the edge of the pier first, the two slowly slid into the water. Being so timid unfortunately wasn't unnoticed by the other girls, and once Minami and Yutaka were fully in the water, they suffered a frontal attack by the others for being so slow.

The group calmed down after a while, but everyone continued to have fun in the water for about an hour.

…

Once they finished playing in the water, the girls went back to the cabin and into their rooms for the time being.

Getting rid of their wet bikinis the second the door of their room closed behind them, Kagami swiftly locked said door, grabbed a couple towels and the two started drying their bodies, each other's, that is.

"Oi, where do you think you're touching?!"

"Everywhere~." Konata was very _thorough_ with the drying and made sure not to miss a single spot on Kagami's body.

"Is that so? That's your game, huh? I hope you're prepared then~." She didn't let Konata finish drying her and grabbed a towel on her own. Once she had a firm grip on it, she quickly and firmly wrapped it around Konata and effortlessly pushed her constricted body on the bed because she was completely unable to move.

"Oho~, that's new…" Being completely unable to move thanks to the tightly wrapped towel around her, it had a slight feeling of pseudo bondage play to it as she lay down defenselessly on the bed.

"Are there any thoughts in your head that aren't perverted, Kona?"

"Bold thing to say as the person responsible for tying me up while currently standing stark naked in front of me…"

"Well…" She had no way to rebut it and also didn't try to. She moved on the bed and climbed on top of Konata, but instead of attacking her, she grabbed another towel and carefully started drying Konata's long hair.

"Oi, you big tease~…"

"Were you expecting something else, pervert~?" With a big grin, Kagami continued to take care of Konata's hair.

"Actually…" Konata suddenly had an even bigger grin. "Something like that was more what I hoped for…" The towel had become undone, and she could use her arms again. Using that chance, she immediately wrapped them around Kagami's body who was hovering above her. Applying a bit of force, Konata made her crash down on top of her, but there was a _slight_ miscalculation.

"Yep~, definitely a pervert…" Because she was drying Konata's hair, her position on top of her was a little off-center. Thanks to that, rather than her face, Kagami's chest made contact with Konata's face when she crashed down, providing her with a completely different kind of sensation than Konata was expecting.

"Mmm-mmfmf-mffhmnfmm~~…" Even though she was clearly suffocating right now, those _noises_ definitely were happy sounding.

"What an idiot…" With a smile on her lips, she moved her body a bit and let the girl below her breath again.

"Haaa~…" After taking in a few deep breaths, color returned to Konata's face. "I-I think I just found a new favorite way to die…"

"It would definitely suit you…"

"Ehehe~…" Konata wrapped her arms around Kagami's face this time and brought their faces together. The two shared a couple of kisses, and the task of drying each other was completely forgotten already.

….

A little over half an hour passed and two very refreshed looking girls arrived in the kitchen.

"Ah, there they are… What took you two so long… Eh? What's up with that look?" Hiyori was already there and got a little confused by the satisfied smile of the couple.

"Hmm~…" They feigned ignorance.

"Whatever… And, what took you so long? Drying oneself and changing clothes usually doesn't take way over an hour…"

"We were… busy."

"Busy?"

"Yes, _busy~_."

"Uhm… What are…" Hiyori wanted to ask something, but the other girls came back from the living room and showed up in the kitchen as well.

"Oh, Kona-chan, onee-chan, welcome back~. You two sure took your sweet time…"

"Ahaha…"

"Anyways… Kona-chan, I'm hungry."

"Ah, right… Are you ready, Kagamin~?"

"Sure, what are we going to make?"

"Everyone's favorite, curry~."

"Yay!" Tsukasa seemed very happy about that decision.

"Oh, I'm good at that."

"Hehe, you're welcome." Konata, being the reason that Kagami's good at making curry, was seemingly proud of herself.

"Shut up."

Konata began washing the rice, and Kagami collected the ingredients needed for the curry itself. Once the rice was put in the rice cooker while the poor thing received the usual glare from Kagami, the two started cutting some potatoes, onions, carrots and the meat with skillful moves in record time while being in perfect synch. The prepared ingredients were soon thrown one after another in a big pot together, and once the meat and onions were browned a bit, water was added as well.

"Heh~, Kagami-senpai can actually cook, huh…? Not only that, she's pretty good at it." Hiyori was surprised by her shown skills.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Kagami didn't like the sound of it.

"I'm sorry… It's just that you somehow give off the feeling that you'd produce more accidents than actual food in the kitchen for some reason…"

"Ahah-! I-I'm sorry, I didn't want to laugh, Kagamin~…" Konata instinctively started laughing on reflex, but managed to stop herself in the middle of it.

"…" Kagami sent a sharp glare at Konata, but then concentrated on Hiyori because she offended her more.

"Weeellll… That's a long story…" Tsukasa tried to lighten up the atmosphere a bit. "Onee-chan actually used to be… terrifying in the kitchen…"

"T-Tsukasa!"

"Terrifying?! Wait a moment, I was actually right?" Hiyori had only the feeling and wasn't expecting to be actually right with her guess.

"That's even lightly speaking… She was banned from our kitchen for a long time and even almost killed Kona-chan once… Not to mention all the fires she started when trying to cook rice…"

"Heyyy!" Kagami was still loudly protesting, but nobody seemed to pay attention to her.

"N-No way…" Hiyori was shocked. "That's a joke, right? There's no way you could start a fire by cooking rice after all…"

"That's not true, Tsukasa." Konata disagreed with her.

"Thank you, Kona…"

"See?" Hiyori was relieved that it was actually a joke.

"It was seven times she almost killed me, not just once." She actually corrected her and not disagreed.

"E-Eh?" Hiyori turned white.

"Kona, stop lying!" Kagami got angrier and angrier.

"I think the first time was when we…"

"Okay, okay… Stop, stop, stop!" She stopped being angry in an instant and turned red instead.

"C-Come on, Konata-senpai, Tsukasa-senpai, no one could possibly be this catastrophic in the kitchen." There was no way Hiyori could believe them.

"There's still that imprint from that one exploded pot on the ceiling in my kitchen at home if you want to see it yourself, Hiyorin."

"E-Eh…?" She turned white again.

"Oh, we have one of those as well in our kitchen, Hiyori-chan."

"S-Seriously?! Don't tell me you really are one of those legendary girls that can make pots explo- GAH!" Hiyori wasn't able to finish her sentence because Kagami had finally enough, grabbed a leftover piece of a potato and shot it right between Hiyori's eyes with perfect accuracy. "I-I'm very sorry, Kagami-senpai. I'll stop now! But, why are you so good now then? I don't think I'm that skillful with a knife… _or potatoes…_ "

"Ah, that's a really cute story

~." Because Kagami suddenly turned a bit red, Tsukasa took over the explanation again. "That's thanks to Kona-chan."

"Ehehe~."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Everyone gave up on onee-chan already when it came to cooking, but Kona-chan tried teaching her one day as well, and it actually succeeded after a while."

"How was that possible?"

"That's the question no one has a definite answer to… It's probably lo-… ehm, lots of effort because the two spent so much time together and refused to give up." Tsukasa almost blabbed something out, but managed to save herself.

"I-Is that so…?" Hiyori's head started to hurt again.

"The cutest thing is that without Kona-chan around, onee-chan's still completely hopeless in the kitchen, even though she showed this kind of skill just now."

"What…?"

"Onee-chan once to tried to cook on her own, but it was a complete failure. Once Kona-chan was next to her again, cooking also worked without a single problem again."

"I-Is that so…?" Hiyori's eyes looked hollow, and her mind was a complete mess. _'Come ooon~! What's this? What's up with those two?! Are they kidding me? No… they've got to be dating each other after all… There's simply no other… Wait a moment, even if I'm fairly sure everyone here should be okay with that, the two should be hiding it more if they're actually dating… No one would ever be this open about it… Gah! Just what is going on here?!'_

"Hiyorin? Are you coming?" While Hiyori had her internal crisis, Konata and Kagami finished cooking, and everyone except her had already moved to the table."

"Ah… Oh, sure… Ehm, Konata-senpai…?"

"Yes?" Konata _innocently_ tilted her head at the sudden start of a question?"

"No… Nevermind… Let's eat…" Hiyori decided against asking in the end in order to not possibly ruin their friendship by asking weird things. She was happy to find fellow otaku friends in Konata and Kagami and decided that this was enough.

"Sure." The two joined the others at the table, and everyone ate dinner together.

…

Once they had finished eating and took care of the dishes, the group decided to go outside again for some more exploring. Having had enough of the lake, for the time being, everyone agreed to go to the forest again. It wasn't a very thrilling adventure, though. Miyuki took over the lead for some reason, and the whole exploring somehow turned into _'Japanese forests native fauna, explained by Miyuki-sensei.'_ A few of the girls were listening with some interest to her, but the others, especially Konata, were happy once they realized that it was getting dark already.

"Okay, I think we should stop here and slowly head back to the cabin. A dark forest surely isn't the most fun place to be at." Miyuki finished her lesson and noticed the time.

"T-That's a very good idea, Yuki-chan…" Tsukasa instantly agreed with her. "The forest got super scary now that it's dark! L-Let's go already!"

"Y-Yes, I agree with Tsukasa-senpai…" Tsukasa wasn't the only one scared. Yutaka didn't like being there as well anymore.

"Sure, let's go…" Unconsciously, Miyuki grabbed Tsukasa's hand and led her out of the forest. Minami's protective instincts kicked in as well and while grabbing Yutaka's hand, she quickly followed Miyuki.

"Ehehe~." Hiyori, on the other hand, liked the dark forest very much, even though it was for her very own selfish reasons.

"Seeing those two so scared, kind of want me to do a…"

"Test of courage!" Hiyori changed her attention and finished Konata's sentence.

"Exactly! We just have to do that one of those days."

"That's going to be great~!" While the two were having sinister smiles on their lips, Kagami walked up to them and gave both a hearty chop on the head.

"Come on, idiots, let's go as well…" The three quickly caught up to the others, and all soon and safely exited the forest.

"Wow…" The sun had already completely set by now, and once the girls had a free view again, they saw the starry night sky above the lake. Having absolutely no artificial light in the vicinity made the stars seem to shine incredibly bright, and the clear lake reflected every single one of them, illuminating the whole area in a gentle light.

"Heh~, that's pretty romantic." Hiyori actually said some decent words for a change.

"Indeed…" Konata and Kagami agreed with her, but something was off. "Wait a moment… Hiyorin, where did that sketchbook come from?!" She looked startled by the sudden appearance of it.

"How naïve, Konata-senpai, I never go outside without it. I could miss out on scenes like that without it after all…" While she was looking proud, an extremely detailed sketch of two couples that were holding hands in front of a beautiful lake that got illuminated by a breathtakingly starry night sky rapidly formed on paper.

"Nonono, I'm asking _where_ it came from and not _why_ …" It confused Konata greatly because Hiyori had no bag or anything similar that could hold a sketchbook with her.

"Don't mind the small details, senpai~."

"Ehhh…?"

"Welcome to my life, Kona." Kagami sympathized with her and placed a hand on Konata's shoulder to console her. She didn't feel any better though. The reason of Kagami's sympathy was because she's going through the same with Konata after all.

"Shut up, Kagamin~."

Hiyori continued to sketch the very stimulating scene in front of her for a while, but her utopia ended soon enough. Miyuki finally realized what she was doing and quickly retracted her hand.

"O-Oh, I'm sorry, Tsukasa-san, it happened unconsciously, and I forget about it afterward…" While apologizing, Miyuki's face turned red, but she wasn't alone with that because Tsukasa was in a similar condition.

"N-No, it's okay… I don't mind at all…" She looked at her empty hand with a sad expression and looked lonely. Hiding their relationship can hurt at times. This here is one of those times. While the two had reluctantly let go of each other, Minami noticed that she was still holding Yutaka's hand as well.

"Ah, sorry about that, Yutaka-chan." Minami gently released her hand without any fuss.

"No problem, I somehow didn't even notice it anymore…"

"E-Ehhh…? W-What's this?!" Hiyori was on cloud nine a moment ago while watching the embarrassed interaction of Miyuki and Tsukasa, but suddenly started crying blood because the smooth exchange of Minami and Yutaka was one of the most devastating things she saw in a while. The comforting hands from Konata and Kagami on her shoulders had also been, at best, only a little help for her broken heart.

"Okay, okay, let's go inside already, girls…" Kagami, having enough of whatever this situation was, urged the group to get a move on and once everyone snapped back to reality, mainly Miyuki, Tsukasa, and especially Hiyori, that is, the girls finally went back into the cabin again.

….

Once they were inside, the group went to the living room and once more got comfortable on the sofas there. After the three dejected girls had fully recovered again, they started chatting about various things. They naturally divided themselves into two groups and talked about very different topics. Miyuki, Tsukasa, Minami, and Yutaka formed one group, and their interests were rather tame. They chatted about clothes, sweets, the latest episode of a popular drama, and other things one normally expects from typical girls talk.

The second group, consisting of Hiyori, Konata, and Kagami was completely different. As expected from a group of otakus, their interests were missing a whole dimension because 2D was more than enough. Konata and Hiyori were energetically chatting about the newest chapters of their favorite mangas for a while, but the topic somehow started to shift towards light novels, and Kagami suddenly became way more active in the discussion. She was having a lot of fun talking with Hiyori about them because she rarely has the chance to talk about light novels with someone, mostly because Konata still firmly refuses to read them. Konata managed to reenter the discussion after a while again, though, because a lot of the novels they were talking about recently became an anime adaption. The three were on the same page for a while when talking about those animes, but Hiyori somehow managed to make them drift into slightly dirty topics. Listening to that, Konata remembered something and interrupted her.

"Ah, wait a moment, Hiyorin…" Konata suddenly left her place on the sofa, went to the other group and kidnapped Yutaka. Together, the two went back to the otaku group, and she made Yutaka sit down next to her. "Okay, please continue, Hiyorin."

"W-What?! There's no way I can continue my story now that Yutaka is listening, Konata-senpai!"

"Is that so? Well then, Yu-chan…"

"Yes…?" Yutaka innocently tilted her head, and Hiyori started to panic because she had a really bad feeling for some reason.

"You told me last time that you found something interesting on the internet, right? Would you mind sharing it with Hiyorin as well?"

"What I found on the internet…? Hmm… Oh, you mean _t-that_ …?" Yutaka had no idea what Konata meant, but once she looked at Hiyori, she remembered and started to blush at the same time.

"E-Ehm… W-What's going on here? D-Did I do something?" Hiyori didn't know what was happening, but she had already turned as white as a sheet and cold sweat formed on her entire body because her instincts told her that something very frightening was about to happen.

"Really? Okay… Hiyori-chan, you always forbade me to look at your mangas, right?"

"Oh no…" Now she already knew where this was heading to.

"I was really curious about it, and last month, I found out your pen name…"

"Nonononono…" She was already gone for good.

"I looked it up on the internet and… I actually found a couple of your mangas online…"

"…" Hiyori had stopped working and didn't respond. She was so frozen up that she even wasn't blinking anymore and her lifeless eyes looked in the far distance.

"Oh-oh… I think I broke Hiyori-chan… Hiyori-chan? Hiyori-chan…? Hiyori-chaaaan?!" Unfortunately, Yutaka was getting no response at all from her.

"Don't worry about it, Yu-chan, that happens from time to time… Hiyorin!" Konata called her name as well and snapped her fingers a couple times right in front of her face. A few seconds passed, and Hiyori's left eye started twitching before she finally started blinking again. Another minute passed before she completely rebooted and directly fell into a deep state of panic.

"T-T-That's not true, right? R-Right?! It's a j-joke, right? K-Konata-senpai told you to say it, right?" She was unable to accept reality and tried to deceive herself.

"N-No, it's true, Konata-oneechan also didn't ever want me to show it as well after all and so she really didn't tell me to make such a joke…"

"D-Don't tell me you were actually serious?!"

"Yes, everything I said is true…"

"Oh no…" Despair filled Hiyori's face again. "W-What did you see…? Which of my works exactly…?" She sensed a ray of hope in those dark times.

"E-Ehm…" Yutaka first looked at Hiyori, then at the couple and then back at Hiyori with an extensively deep blush on her face, but didn't say a single word.

"Uhh…" Hiyori was a bit slow at the moment, thanks to the situation, but once she connected the dots and the reason behind Yutaka's blush, her face distorted into an ugly grimace while blushing as well before she started to scream.

"WAAAAAaaaaahhhhh…" Her screaming was getting quieter a and quieter, but not because she was running out of breath. Once she found out that Yutaka knows about her hobby, she stood up from the sofa and ran out of the room while embarrassedly screaming to her heart's content. The further she got, the quieter the screaming became until the group wasn't able to hear her anymore.

"Weeell, that was fun~." Kagami stood on the sidelines until now, but she had a pretty good time just listening to them.

"That's my cute little sadist~."

"Kona?"

"Yes?"

"You should stop smiling from ear to ear as well when saying something like that…"

"How's that supposed to work? I just witnessed the funniest thing ever. It's physically impossible for me not to smile~."

"And I'm the sadist here, huh?"

"Speaking from past experiences, the latest one being only a couple hours old, yes, yes you are."

"Shut up, Kona."

"Uhm…" A third voice timidly entered the conversation.

"Thank you very much, Yu-chan, you can go now."

The remaining girls chatted for a short while longer, but then decided to take a bath, and once they were done, everyone stayed in their rooms.

….

Konata and Kagami were done pretty quickly with their baths because they simply took one together. This normally would've ended in everything except quick, but the circumstances didn't allow them to have _too much_ fun. They went back to their room and simultaneously crashed face first down on their bed together. The two changed their position after a while and made themselves comfortable next to each other and started chatting.

"You know, now that I've cooled down a bit, I kind of feel sorry for Hiyori…"

"Really~?" Konata somehow didn't believe her at all.

"More than you'd think, but definitely way less than I should, I guess…" In short, she didn't feel sorry at all.

"Figured as much… That's my Kagamin~."

"Still, it's going to be pretty hard to tell her about us now, isn't it? I'm fairly sure we actually _did_ break her a little…"

"Yeah… I wouldn't believe us either anymore now…"

"Well, I guess we just have to break her a _little_ more~." It was a good thing the two were alone because Kagami's happy voice was more than just mildly scary.

"And you actually argued with me who's the sadist here earlier…"

"Uhh… yeah, I heard it as well now…"

"Don't mind, your sadistic side is quite sexy~." Another dangerous statement that was better off unheard by outsiders was made.

"I'll remember that for future citation… and use~."

"Sure~. Anyway, what do you mean by breaking Hiyorin a _little_ more?" Konata brought the discussion back on track.

"Hmm~." Kagami's evil grin had vastly improved over time and was able to scare Konata quite a bit by now.

"Oh boy, now I'm the one who's feeling sorry for Hiyorin…"

"Let's just do something slightly extreme, Kona~."

"W-What exactly do you mean by that now…?"

"Don't mind the details and just leave it to me~."

"Ehh…" Konata had a weird feeling of déjà vu, but decided to keep it to herself because Kagami's unreasonable after all. "I've been wondering for a while now, though… Do you actually hate or like Hiyorin?"

"I did seriously hate her in the beginning when she hit off so well with you, Kona, but once I got to know her better, I actually enjoy talking with her about light novels and stuff now. I don't really dislike her at all. She's just a little annoying at times, but that's nothing new~."

"Okay…" Konata wanted to ask some more, but she felt like she would only hurt herself if she continued here and stopped. "Well then, I leave the _breaking_ to you, Kagamin~."

"Sure~." Once the topic was done, the two started talking altogether and concentrated far more desirable, cuddling. Kagami opened her arms, pulled Konata towards her chest and hugged her tightly. Konata returned the warm embrace of her girlfriend, and the two spent the rest of the night like that until falling asleep in each other's arms before long.

….

Miyuki and Tsukasa had a similar experience in the bath. The two also took one together, but ended up needing a fair bit amount of less time than Konata and Kagami, even though they had already held back on having fun. They entered their room as well and sat down on their bed to talk about a few things.

"Kagami-san and Konata-san sure are something, aren't they?"

"They really are… To tell the truth, I keep getting more jealous of them, Yuki-chan… They're so honest about their feelings and don't hide it at all… We, on the other hand already got terribly flustered earlier because we held a little too long in public…" Tsukasa felt sad again by just thinking about it.

"Yes… It was a very unfortunate event…"

"Should we… maybe be a little more open about it as well…?" Tsukasa would prefer if the hand-holding incident doesn't repeat itself.

"I'm not so sure… I also don't like the situation very much… But, is it okay to wait a little longer? I don't think my mother has noticed anything and I don't want her to find out about us from other people. Also, it still takes some time until my father comes back and I have no idea how he would react to it… I'm actually a little afraid when it comes to that…"

"It's okay, Yuki-chan, I fully understand that. You really don't have to feel bad. Actually, thinking logically about it, Kona-chan and onee-chan probably are the weird ones, aren't they?"

"That's certainly a possibility… I never saw same sex… no, just _couples_ is enough… acting quite like them in public…" Normally, people usually hold back with the display of public affection, but in Konata and Kagami's case, that's not true at all.

"Yeah, they really aren't even trying…"

"How about that, Tsukasa-san… We should simply try to be alone more often for now."

"Hmm…? O-Oh…" Tsukasa understood Miyuki's slightly suggestive implication after thinking about it for about three seconds and started smiling a bit. "Yes, I think that works as a start…"

Once they finished talking, the two laid down on their bed and also engaged in some light cuddling. Miyuki was laying on her back with her arms spread away from her body and Tsukasa used one of them as a pillow as she laid down next to her while facing Miyuki. The two stayed like that for a while, but Tsukasa drifted away into the land of dreams. Miyuki watched her peaceful sleeping face afterward, but this made her sleepy as well, and she quickly followed Tsukasa only a few minutes after.

…

The room of the first years wasn't nearly as peaceful as those of their senpais. Hiyori had apparently run straight into the bathroom after she left the living room while screaming. Minami had finished her bath as well already, but it was really awkward with just the two in the room. Yutaka had just entered the room as well, and Minami was happy that she hadn't needed to deal with Hiyori alone anymore. Both were sitting on the bottom bed of the bunk bed the two were sharing and looked at the single bed of Hiyori at the other side of the room.

"Uhh…" Unfortunately, Yutaka also was no help in getting rid of the awkwardness. The two only continued to look at Hiyori or rather, the direction of her. Hiyori herself wasn't even visible. Once she came out of the bath, she had immediately hidden under the blanket on her bed and curled up into a ball. Thanks to that, Minami and Yutaka had no idea what to do. A few more minutes passed, and Yutaka finally decided to do something. She went to Hiyori, sat down next to her on the bed and gently started patting the shivering ball under the blanket as a try to comfort her. Her way of comforting was very questionable at least, though.

"Y-You see, Hiyori-chan, I really liked your mangas, you know…?" Yutaka honestly tried to cheer her up, but, as expected, it only made things worse.

"Uhhhhh…" Hiyori didn't answer, and the two only heard groaning noises as the shaking beneath the blanket got stronger. Minami couldn't watch it any longer and decided to join in on Yutaka's tries in comforting the _poor_ girl. Completely unexpected, though, Minami was at least equally bad at it.

"Yutaka-chan's right… I also think your mangas are great. I liked them as well, even though I was fairly embarrassed while reading them… You're really talented, and there's no need to be ashamed…" Minami was also perfectly honest and didn't have any bad intentions, but the point of Hiyori's suffering was completely missed. Although, there was quite a reaction from Hiyori this time. The shivering got even stronger, and the blanket suddenly flew through the room as she bolted up with great momentum.

"W-W-WHAT?!" Hiyori finally snapped. "Y-You saw them as well, Minami?!"

"Uh, yes… Yutaka-chan called me the second she found them, and we looked at them together." Minami, unconsciously, made it even worse again.

"…" Hiyori froze for a moment again, but she sadly wasn't able to enjoy the thought of her favorite pseudo-couple watching her yuri mangas together because of her own embarrassment reached a new all-time high. "Could someone just kill me already?! Please!"

"Oh, Minami-chan, do you remember the last manga I showed you?"

"Hmm… Oh, you mean the one where the two had the house for them alone and…"

"Yes, that! I showed it to Konata-oneechan as well, and she told me something very interesting…"

"Really? What is it?"

"You see…" The two suddenly started chatting energetically about one of Hiyori's mangas as if they've completely forgotten about the situation at hand. Their heated-up discussion didn't seem to end, and the two even got into some very piquant details with Hiyori right next to them who wasn't even be acknowledged anymore. In a simpler world, Hiyori would be over the moon right now, but in the cruel reality she was in right now, she could only do a single thing. For a long time, screams of agony echoed through the entire house that even reached the neighboring forest throughout the night.

Just like that, the first day of their very ordinary and completely uneventful summer trip ended with a peaceful night. The next two and a half days are surely going to be equally relaxing for everyone.

* * *

.

1/3… Yep, it's going to be long.

You know, while already being halfway done with the summer trip chapter, I started to notice that the whole 'a group of girls staying in a forest cabin in the middle of nowhere' is slightly… Let's just pretend Minami's father (the owner of the cabin) is _slightly_ overprotective of her and so rich that he hired a squad of special forces to protect the girls… Yeah, let's go with that… No one was able to be harmed at any time… (It's fiction, you know?)

(Sojiro was probably sitting in a tree nearby while taking pictures –and looking after them- as well... Oh, maybe a little harmed then)


	39. Another summer trip (Part 2)

The first day of their relaxing trip had ended without anything noteworthy and the morning of the second day arrived. Miyuki was already in the kitchen, but without Tsukasa, because she had given up on waking her up after the third try and left alone. The first years were in the kitchen was well already after a rather short night.

"Oh, let me help with that…"

"Really? Thank you very much, Minami-san." Miyuki had started preparing breakfast, and once Minami noticed that, she promptly offered her help. Yutaka and Hiyori were too busy to even notice. Unfortunately, once Yutaka became interested in something, she became really persistent, and Hiyori took the blunt end of it.

"Hiyori-chan~, about…" Ever since yesterday, Yutaka kept asking one question after another about her mangas.

"WAAAHHH!" Thanks to that, Hiyori's life was a complete hell right now.

"Why do you enjoy drawing… girls only manga so much…?" Yutaka wasn't sure to word it.

"Uhh… B-Because girls are cuter to draw…? A-Also, because I'm a girl as well… c-certain details are easier for me to draw…" Hiyori wanted to die again. Talking about these kinds of things with likeminded people like Konata and Kagami was fun for her, but talking about it with the seemingly innocent Yutaka was almost equal to torture.

"Even though those parts are censored…?" The _seemingly innocent_ Yutaka was rather knowledgeable about some interesting details.

"W-Wha-?! AAHHH- *BAM*" Out of pure desperation, Hiyori banged her head against the next best wall with even more force than she intended to.

"Good morning~, seems like you're already having fun, huh, Hiyorin?" Konata and Kagami managed to leave their bed eventually and were standing in the door right now while watching Hiyori with a smile.

"Wah~, senpais!" Being desperate, Hiyori jumped at them the second she saw them and tightly hugged the two at the same time. "Please help me~!"

"Now, now~…" Konata patted her head, and Hiyori let go of them after a while again.

"You're surprisingly weak to pressure, aren't you, Hiyori~?" Kagami was smiling from ear to ear for some reason.

"Shut up, Kagamin~, not now…"

"Hehe." Her devious smile didn't change a bit. Today's probably going to be a lot worse for Hiyori.

"You shouldn't let it get so much to you, Hiyorin… Yu-chan isn't doing it on purpose, and she definitely hasn't any ill will. She's just curious about many things…"

"I know… it's just when I look at Yutaka's innocent eyes when she's talking about it… I just feel so… dirty…"

"I get where you're coming from and I felt the same for a long while, but I lately have the feeling that she isn't as innocent as one would think… Sometimes, it seems like there's something dangerous inside that cute appearance…"

"K-Konata-senpai…?"

"Ah, no, please ignore me. Anyways, don't get too hung up when she's interested in something."

"Yeah, I guess you're right… Thank you, Konata-senpai." Hiyori seemed to have finally recovered a little. "Still, couldn't you two have stood up about an hour earlier? It would've saved me so much trouble… Why are you late anyway?"

"Didn't I tell you yesterday already?" Konata had a slight case of déjà-vu again.

"Hmm…?" It seems like she forgot about or rather, suppressed it.

"Just like it happened yesterday, Kagamin~ had slight troubles getting up again…"

"Kagami-senpai really doesn't look like she's bad at waking up at all, though."

"Yeah, it's a mystery~." Konata didn't want to burn out Hiyori too much because she suffered enough already, but Kagami didn't agree with that sentiment.

"Don't mind it, Hiyori, you aren't really wrong. I'm normally not bad at all with mornings. It only happens when I sleep with Kona. I simply don't want to stand up then~." Kagami flashed her a seductive smile while saying so. It looked like her plan to break her had already started early in the morning. "Kona's unable to move because I don't let her, but that would be a bit too much to explain now." It seems there were still some slight limits.

"W-What…? K-Konata-senpai, is that…" She looked at Konata for confirmation, but she was unable to meet her eyes. "E-Ehh!? C-Come on, Kagami-senpai… I-I just recovered from Yutaka… Y-You can't do that to me so soon after that…" Hiyori twitched a few times, but was ultimately unable to believe her because of everything else that happened.

"If you say so~." Kagami's clearly said that she wasn't done with her just yet, but Hiyori didn't know about that at the moment.

"W-Wow… and here I though Minami and Yutaka are bad for my health… The two of you are a league on your own…"

"Hey, keep me out of that…" Konata didn't want to be included in that.

"Ehehe~." Kagami was even scarier than usual.

"Good mooorniiing~." A new voice arrived in the kitchen, and Hiyori was luckily saved. Tsukasa was really late and she sleepier than everyone else in the room.

"Ah, Tsukasa-san, good morning, you have great timing. Minami-san and I just finished preparing breakfast. "Miyuki treated Tsukasa's lateness as nothing unusual, which it has actually also been, and casually announced that breakfast is ready. Everyone then went to the dining table and started eating while talking about today's agenda.

"Minami-chan, is there anything interesting on the other side of the lake? We pretty much saw everything around here, haven't we?" Tsukasa still wanted to explore some more.

"Actually, even though my family owns this cabin, I never went to the other side of the lake, Tsukasa-senpai…"

"Really? We should take a look then!"

"Hmm… Sure, why not?" Minami agreed with her idea.

"Oh, how about we take the canoes from the pier to go to the other side? That could be fun."

"Heh~, nice idea, Tsukasa." Konata also liked her plan.

The others of the group agreed with the plan as well and the only thing they had to do now, was to kill some hours until noon. Minami dusted off an old game of Monopoly and about three hours died just like that.

….

Noon passed, and the girls started preparing for their canoe trip. Everyone packed a change of clothes to change into, in the case they ended up in the water and met up at the pier.

"Oh, I have an interesting idea~." Kagami's evil smile was working really hard today.

"Oh-oh…" Konata had a bad feeling and looked with deep sympathy in Hiyori's direction.

"How about we switch the people in the canoes from our usual groups?"

"Interesting…" The idea was received well.

"Okay, how about the following teams…" Kagami grouped the girls into three different canoes, and Hiyori noticed in that very moment that she made a huge mistake by agreeing with the idea, but it was already too late. The first group was Konata and Tsukasa, the second two were Minami and Miyuki, and the last canoe was for Hiyori, Yutaka, and Kagami.

"Yep, that's going to be a very long day for Hiyorin…" Konata sent a silent prayer towards her.

"Oh, the groups look good to me." Unfortunately, Hiyori was the only one who wasn't happy with the groups.

"Kagamin~… don't you think you're overdoing it a little with your plan to break Hiyorin?" Konata stood next to her and started whispering.

"Hmm~?" For some reason, Kagami just tilted her head with an innocent expression.

"E-Eh…?!" Konata suddenly had a really bad feeling again.

"What do you mean, Kona? I haven't even started with that, you know?"

"Y-You haven't, huh…? Then, what was all that until now?" It was obvious to Konata that Kagami was already having quite a bit of fun with Hiyori.

"A warming up, I guess~…?" Kagami changed her expression to a bewitching smile, and a cold shower ran down Konata's spine.

"I-I'm not sure what's worse right now… That I'm legitimately scared by my girlfriend or that I'm a little turned on right now…"

"I would say that…"

"No, don't answer!" There were things even Konata didn't want to know.

"Hehe~."

"Shut up, Kagamin~. It's your fault that I turned out like that in the first place… I hope you'll take responsibility for that."

"No, Kona, I'm fairly sure you were always like that. I just helped a little with bringing it out~. Then again, haven't I always properly taken responsibility up until now?"

"And I'm even more turned on now."

"It really doesn't take much for that, huh?"

"That's also your fault…"

"Ehehe~."

"Shut up, Kagamin~."

"Oh, I almost forgot…" Miyuki suddenly spoke up and finally made the two leave their own little world. "Put the clothes you brought for changing in a different canoe than your own. That way, even if your canoe capsizes, you'll still have dry clothes the change into afterward."

"Miyuki, are you a genius…?" Konata was amazed by her way of thinking, but then stopped. "No, nevermind, you actually are one…" She forgot about it that for a second.

With the preparations being done, the girls boarded the canoes and started paddling across the lake. It looked pretty awkward for a while in the beginning because no one had any experience in riding a canoe, but it didn't take them too long to make some progress.

Miyuki and Minami were lagging a bit behind because neither of them was overly competitive and they took it easy while chatting a bit.

"The canoes were a pretty good idea, weren't they, Minami-san?"

"Yeah… it was…" She agreed with her, but she was somewhat fidgety and restless for some reason. Miyuki, being her childhood friend, immediately noticed the change in her behavior.

"Is there something wrong, Minami-san?"

"N-No… nothing's wrong…"

"What's the matter then?" It was obvious that Minami was thinking about something.

"I had a very interesting conversation with Konata-senpai and Kagami-senpai about… oh…" Minami suddenly stopped in the middle of her sentence.

"About…?"

"Ah, n-no, I just realized that I maybe shouldn't talk about it, now that I think about it…"

"Hmm…? Oh, are you talking about them being a couple?" It didn't take Miyuki long to understand what she was talking about.

"Y-You know about it?"

" _Know_ is fairly relative… Tsukasa-san and I actually somewhat helped them get together…"

"R-Really?" Minami was surprised hearing that.

"Yeah… The two were so awkward and useless that time, so Tsukasa-san and I just had to interfere and help them a bit by giving them a push…"

"Those two… awkward…? I can't see that at all…" It was really hard for her to accept, knowing the everyday Konata and Kagami.

"Well, they're dating for over a year already, the awkwardness is obviously long gone…"

"What…? I forgot to ask them, but… they're actually dating for so long already…?"

"Yes, the two had their anniversary last month."

"Wow…" Minami was genuinely impressed.

"Is there a reason you're so interested in them?"

"W-Well… they're the first same-sex couple I ever met in real life. I'm somehow pretty fascinated by the two, especially by how they're handling it. You would normally think they should try to hide it at any cost, but the two are so open about it, even to an impressive degree actually… I think that's really amazing and more people should be like them." Minami highly praised the couple, but Miyuki was feeling worse with every single word.

"Ahaha…" A dry laugh was the most she could muster right now. A part of her felt bad because she didn't tell her oldest friend that she's dating a girl as well, but overwhelmingly worse was the other part Minami was talking about. She was idolizing Konata and Kagami for not caring about society and flirting all they want in public. On the contrary to that, Tsukasa and she actually were doing their best to hide their relationship. Minami didn't mean any harm because she didn't even know, but Miyuki was feeling incredibly down right now.

"What's wrong?" Minami obviously didn't fail to notice that as well.

"A lot… N-No, I mean… nothing's wrong… Don't worry about me, Minami-san." While the atmosphere continued to be awkward in Minami and Miyuki's canoe, the other girls were chatting about various things as well.

….

Konata and Tsukasa started talking about a similar topic as well after a while, but it was a lot less awkward because they didn't need to hide anything.

"… and even though it really stinks, it was still pretty delicious…"

"Really? I should try it out then."

"You absolutely should, Kona-chan."

"By the way…" Konata decided to end their silly chat and changed the topic. "How is it going with Miyuki?"

"Pretty good, I guess…"

"You guess…? That doesn't sound very…" Konata wasn't sure how to think about it.

"N-No, there just isn't much that has changed compared to before…"

"Is that so? But knowing you, you two are probably cuddling at least a lot, aren't you?"

"We do, but like I said… Hello, my name is Tsukasa, and I like to cuddle…"

"Good point…" Konata remembered that Tsukasa doesn't need to be in a relationship to cuddle with someone.

"Well, the… kissing is new… but that's about it…"

"I think that's a pretty significant change if you ask me, though…"

"That's true… and I really enjoy it… but other than that… I actually think some things got worse… Before, I could cling as much as I wanted to Yuki-chan in public, but now…"

"Ah, you mean the hand holding thing from yesterday, huh?"

"So, you noticed… It was pretty obvious, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, it was hard not to… Are you really okay with that, Tsukasa?" Konata remembered the sad expression on her face yesterday.

"Well… I was okay with taking it easy, and I'm also not perfectly ready to announce it to everyone in public, but yeah… I really don't like it…" Tsukasa was finally honest. "Then again, I fully understand Yuki-chan's side as well, and I have to respect that. I'll have to wait until she's ready to tell her family before we can be more open about it…"

"Uh…" Konata had a complicated expression on her face. "I don't want to criticize your decisions, but I don't think that's going to work out… I saw Miyuki's expression as well when you two stopped holding hands yesterday and it was obvious that she's suffering as much as you. The two of you either have to tell a few more people about it in order to get more intimate with each other around your friends or have to think about something equally effective. Else, I have the feeling this won't end so well. You'll definitely feel worse and have a fight about it sooner or later. You really have to talk about it with her and without holding back… Trust me on that, Tsukasa." As usual, Konata's relationship advice was pretty unexpected, but extremely helpful.

"Kona-chan… Thank you very much… You're right, aren't you? Yeah… it's probably for the best if we talk about it again… That being said… can't you and onee-chan hold back a little more in public…? You two are part of the reason why we're so unhappy about not being able to be affectionate in the first place…"

"Nope, no chance at all." Konata didn't even need to think about it.

"Yeah, I already knew that the possibility for that was zero… it's you two after all…"

"Ehehe~… Oh, about earlier… just how stinky is it exactly? I'm usually not very good with that kind of thing…" Because difficult topics are no fun to talk about, Konata simply stopped talking about them.

"Hmm…" Tsukasa shared the same sentiment and didn't question the sudden change of topic. "I think it depends a little on how you prepare it. If you properly wash it before cooking it a little longer, it shouldn't be that bad anymore, but I don't know how that'll affect the taste…"

"Good point… Overcooking could probably ruin it…"

"Yeah, best would be to stick with the recommended way of cooking it…"

"That's true, well, I'll just try it and hope for the best. It can't be that bad."

"Good. Oh, tell me once you tried it. I want to know how you think about it.

"Sure~."

Compared to Minami and Miyuki, the conversation of the two ended on a much lighter note. Unfortunately, Hiyori could only dream about having a light chat because Yutaka and Kagami made sure that that's not going to happen.

….

"Ah, Hiyori-chan, where did we stop at again this morning?"

"Hmm? Weren't we just talking about the weather?" It was a very desperate, but equally useless try.

"No, we were talking about your mangas, weren't we?"

"Ah… right… I forgot…" She didn't., but she had hoped Yutaka did.

"Oh, I remember now… Hiyori-chan, you said that you like to draw girls because you're better at it… being a girl yourself. But, why are you drawing… romance mangas? Aren't there other genres that would be more fitting for girls only scenarios?"

"Heh~, that's a good question, Yutaka." Kagami happily entered the conversation with a big smile on her lips. "Not only that, the _love_ scenes are incredibly detailed and realistic. How do you know so much about it?"

"Are they? I don't know about it, but that's amazing, Hiyori-chan." Even though it was unconscious, Yutaka was a great wingman in Kagami's scheme.

"They really are. So, how did you get the details, Hiyori~?" She had no intention of going easy on her.

"W-Well… I did a lot of r-research on the internet a-and, uhm… read a lot of different other yuri mangas that were known for their realism and… created my own drawing style based on what I l-liked the most…" Hiyori was thinking about jumping in the water for a moment, but suddenly noticed something about Kagami. "W-Wait a moment, Kagami-senpai, how do you know that the details in my mangas are realistic…? Like I said, I did a lot of research, but you on the other hand… You shouldn't have done such a research because there's no need for you to do such a thing, r-right?"

"How I know that the _love_ scenes you're drawing are realistic, you're asking?"

"Y-Yes…" Hiyori just started to notice that she made yet another big mistake.

"Why indeed~… Now that you mention it, I really wonder where I got the exp- I mean, how I know about it~." It was a good thing that Hiyori's legitimately scared by Kagami. Otherwise, the seductive grin Kagami was doing right now would've made it possible for Hiyori to fall for her right on the spot. Instead, Hiyori eyes simply grew wide while she tried to process what she just heard. She had no time to think about it, though. Just when she was about to freak out, Yutaka relentlessly started asking questions again.

"Hiyori-chan, so, why do you enjoy drawing… ehm, yuri so much…?"

"W-What…?" Hiyori had hoped that she forgot about it already, but she hadn't that kind of luck. "Uhh, I-I'm not so sure… b-because two girls _cuddling_ and being intimate is really cute and adorable…? Also, the slight… forbidden feeling to it because of how society thinks of it makes it a pretty interesting thing to write about… B-But now that we're speaking about it…" Hiyori quickly tried to get the spotlight away from her. "Why are you so interested in yuri?"

"Uh, there's no real reason… It's just that my first ever exposure to such… g-graphic things were your mangas, Hiyori-chan…" Yutaka's cheeks were slightly red while she glimpsed at Kagami.

"W-What?!" Hiyori, on the other hand, turned completely red. "Y-Your first… was _t-that_ …? Oh my… S-Seriously…? Somehow, I'm really sorry about that…" Hiyori obviously knows every single one of her works, and so she knows that it's surely nothing for a first timer.

"Don't worry about it, Hiyori, that was actually a really good thing to happen." The mangas probably had a really favorable influence on how Yutaka views same-sex couples after all.

"Eh…? Why's that so? Ah, no wait… I don't want to know." Hiyori was able to avoid further damage done to her mind. Well, until she made a way bigger mistake at least. "By the way, Kagami-senpai, why do you like yuri so much?" She hoped to get the attention even further away from her, but her plan was nothing but a big failure, and Hiyori immediately realized it once she looked at Kagami's face.

"You would like to know that, wouldn't you~?" Her seductive grin was back with even more destructive potential. Hiyori didn't get mesmerized, though. She broke down a little more and started hugging her knees. It was too much for her to handle and her brain decided to shut down for self-preservation. While the broken girl stared into nothingness while swaying back and forth, Yutaka took over the paddle Hiyori was unable to use at the moment and together with Kagami, the two paddled towards the shore at the other side of the lake. Hiyori was mumbling something the entire time, but because they didn't understand a single word, the two kept paddling in silence until they reached their destination shortly after.

…

Everyone exited the canoes and secured them at the beach. Once Hiyori had solid ground under her feet again, she immediately sank down on her knees and gave the ground a kiss.

"I can finally run away again!" Part of the reason Hiyori suffered so much in the canoe because she had no viable way to escape.

"Uh… What happened…?" Konata stopped in front of her and looked at the very worn out looking girl on the ground.

"K-Konata-senpai~!" Hiyori noticed her and wrapped her arms around one of Konata's legs with teary eyes. "I thought I would die… Kagami-senpai is so scaaaary!"

"Yeah, she's great, isn't she?"

"What…?"

"What?"

"Eh…?"

"So, what happened that you're looking like that?" Konata pretended that nothing else happened.

"Well… Yutaka started asking questions about my mangas again, but Kagami-senpai suddenly joined in as well and made it ten times worse…"

"That's my Ka… What did she do…?"

"She asked me about things like why my mangas are so detailed and realistic or…"

"Oh, now that you mention it… They are pretty realistic compared to most of the other works…"

"How do you… N-No, bad Hiyori! Don't ask that!" Hiyori finally seemed to have learned something.

"Hehe~. Don't worry, Hiyorin, _I_ will take it easy _today_ …"

"Thank you very much, Konata-senpai. That's very reassuring to hear because I don't think I can take much or of that kind of teasing before my brain melts…"

"Well, I'll try to hold back, but I can't take care of Kagamin~."

"W-Why… You and Kagami-senpai are… pretty close, aren't you? Can't you do something?"

"I'm sorry, but once Kagamin~ has planned something, there's nothing even I can do." Konata knows pretty well how stoic and stubborn she can be once she has decided on something.

"W-What is she planning…?" Hiyori had a bad feeling about it again.

"Well…" Konata only awkwardly scratched her cheek in response.

"K-Konata-senpai, I'm getting scared again!"

"You're really easily scared, aren't you~?" Kagami suddenly appeared behind Konata and demonstrably wrapped her arms around Konata's neck in order to hug her from behind to inflict some extra damage to the already half broken girl and also because she simply wanted to hug her.

"E-Eh?!" Hiyori hadn't seen her coming and was startled. She let go of Konata's leg, got back on her feet again and instantly stepped a few steps back for self-defense.

"Ahaha~." Kagami was having fun, but she, unfortunately, had no time to tease her anymore.

"Is everyone ready? We want to go…" Tsukasa wanted to explore the area already. Hiyori didn't need to be told that twice and basically vanished from the place she was and reappeared on the spot right next to Tsukasa. The others got ready as well and started walking

The groupings, too, were mostly back to normal again. Konata and Kagami were walking in the back, Minami, and Yutaka in the middle, but the grouping in the front was a little unusual. Because Hiyori judged the two as the safest choice to travel with, she decided to stick with Tsukasa and Miyuki for the time being.

The girls entered the forest and saw something slightly surprising. They thought the area around the cabin was already unspoiled nature, but the other side of the lake was at least two leagues about that. Not even a walking trail had formed there somewhere, and it seemed like the group was the first humans that ever set their feet in this part of the forest. As far as they could see, which actually wasn't that far because of the overgrown vegetation, there was nothing in sight that remotely indicated that civilization had reached this place already. Gigantic trees, ferns, weird looking plants, and tons of other stuff was simply growing all over the place.

"D-Did we travel back in time…?"

"Has anyone of you seen Jurassic P**k?" Hiyori and Konata were strangely in sync.

"Shut up you two, and Kona, you don't need to beep that…" So she retorted, but Kagami's eyes looked like she was thinking about at least something very similar when taking in the sight.

"Yuki-chan, look!" Tsukasa suddenly became excited. "There's a squirrel!"

"Where?"

"There!" She pointed at a somewhat far branch on a tree.

"How did you find it so quick…?" Even after pointing it out, Miyuki needed a couple seconds before finding it.

"Ah, there's another one!" Yutaka suddenly pointed in a completely different direction where another squirrel was currently sitting on a branch while nibbling on something.

"So cute! Yuki-chan, quick, give me a cookie or something…!"

"Cookies aren't really that good for wild animals, Tsu-…"

"Yuki-chan, cookie!" She naturally wasn't interested in that.

"Y-Yes…" Because Miyuki knew Tsukasa well enough, she didn't say anything more, grabbed into her bag and gave Tsukasa a cookie she brought with her.

"Thank you. Come here, squirrel, come over here little squirrel~." She waved around with the cookie in her hand to lure in the squirrels, but those only looked at her with a dumbfounded look. "Ehhh…"

"They are wild animals, Tsukasa-san, those don't just simply come to you just because you have a cookie, you kn-… Hmm…?" Miyuki was in the middle of explaining when she suddenly heard a rustling in the bush next to them.

"No way…" A tanuki walked out of the bush and sat down before Tsukasa while it was following the cookie with its eyes. "What were you saying, Yuki-chan?"

"T-There are always some exceptions…"

"Ehehe~…" She wasn't even listening anymore because she was too busy playing with the tanuki. She was waving the cookie in her hand and happily watched how it was intently following every move. Once Tsukasa deemed the cuteness of the tanuki as good enough, she gave it the cookie as a reward. The tanuki immediately gulped it down and disappeared into the bush again. "Aww, I wanted to pet it…"

"Well, it's a wild animal after a-… Ehh…?" Miyuki was once more proven wrong when the bush started to rustle even stronger.

"Oh, he just brought friends with him~." Two more tanukis appeared, and the three of them all sat down right in front of Tsukasa and looked with pleading eyes at her. "Yuki-chan, cookies!"

"Sure… Here, take the whole package…" Miyuki gave up and simply gave her what she wanted.

"Here~." Tsukasa waved another cookie around, and the tanukis suddenly tried to stand on their hind legs, but one of them didn't make it and awkwardly fell, knocking the other over as well, and the three somehow ended up entangled in each other as a furry tanuki ball. "Oh my god… T-They are so cuuuute! O-Onee-chan!" Tsukasa could barely contain her excitement.

"No, we can't keep them, sis…" Kagami knew exactly what she was about to ask.

"W-Why?! Look at them! They are so adorable!"

"W-Well…" She was about to fall for their cuteness as well, but she had to stay strong. "D-Don't you think they're happier out here where they can play all they want…?"

"I guess that's true…" Tsukasa gave up on her plan and started feeding them again. She gave each tanuki two cookies, and everyone happily gulped them down. Once the cookies were gone, they circled around Tsukasa legs a few times and then laid down around her, and fell asleep. "O-Onee-chan~…" She broke down again.

"N-No…" Kagami, as well, was reaching her breaking point.

"Aww… I wonder if I can pet them…"

"Tsukasa-san, I don't think that's a good…" Miyuki tried to warn her again, but her assertiveness was quite lacking today.

"They're so fluffy!" Tsukasa was already petting them without reserve. She continued to pat them for a while, but the tanukis woke up a couple minutes, and after a cute yawn, they looked at Tsukasa a last time before they disappeared into the bush again. "Bye-Bye~." Tsukasa waved after them with a small tear in her eye until the three weren't visible anymore.

"You wanted to keep them as well, huh, Kagamin~?" Konata didn't fail to miss the lonely look in Kagami's face.

"N-No, I didn't…"

"Ehehe~. Oh, let's get a dog one day…"

"…" It took Kagami a little over five seconds before she finally answered. "Shut up, Kona."

"Okay~." For some reason, Konata started to smile.

Once Tsukasa properly saw off the tanukis, the girls continued their exploration.

…

The group walked for not even five minutes through the forest until Tsukasa stopped them again.

"Wait a moment… I-Is that a deer…?" She pointed at a little glade that had opened up in the forest.

"Wow, you're right." The other noticed it as well with a surprised expression.

"Yuki-chan, cookie!" Tsukasa wanted to befriend the deer as well.

"I'm sorry, Tsukasa-san, but you fed all of them to the tanukis earlier…"

"N-No way… W-What do I do…?" She started to get desperate because she had nothing to lure in the deer, but something unfortunate happened anyway.

"Ah, it ran away…"

"Ehh… W-Why?!" She looked unbelievably sad.

"I think it was chased away by something, Tsukasa-senpai…" Hiyori pointed at the right corner of the glade. "Wait a moment… Is that a fox over there?

"What? Really? Where?!" Tsukasa frantically scanned the area Hiyori was pointing at and finally found it. "Oh my god, it's true!"

"That forest here sure is lively…" Konata wasn't speaking about the animals only and watched Tsukasa with a warm smile.

"Yuki-chan, cok- ah, dammit!" Tsukasa forgot about it again already.

"I'm fairly sure foxes wouldn't like them anyway, Tsukasa-san… Tsukasa-san…?" Miyuki tried to make the situation a little better, but then noticed that she was talking with air.

"Come here, foxy~, come here little foxy, foxy, foxy~…" Shwas already carefully approaching the small, reddish-orange fox that was trying to hide itself in the overgrown grass. She was about to reach the little animal, but the fox finally noticed her and immediately ran away from her. "Aww, so close…"

"I think that's probably for the best, Tsukasa-san… Foxes can be pretty aggressive and sometimes carry some serious illnesses…" Miyuki tried to cheer her up again, but made it many times worse.

"R-Really…?" Tears suddenly started to form in the corners of her eyes.

"Ah, n-no… some foxes may be, b-but that little guy looked friendly and really healthy!" She frantically tried to get her to smile again.

"I-I see… I'm sooo glad!" Tsukasa can be emotionally unstable at times.

"By the way…" Konata couldn't watch any more of it and tried to change the topic. "Looking at our little safari here… Minami, do you think we can find any bears around here?"

"Shut up, Kona, not this again… There aren't any bears around here…" The reoccurring theme of Konata's weird love for bears annoyed Kagami a bit.

"Uh, actually…" Minami suddenly averted her face.

"W-What…?" More than one girl broke into a sweat.

"Seriously?!" Konata's reaction was a little different.

"Two years ago, a bear tried to break into the cabin, but luckily ran away again…"

"R-Really…?"

"Yes… I probably should've mentioned that earlier, shouldn't I?"

"Yes!" Again, she got more than one answer.

"Heh~." Konata was the only one still smiling.

"Kona~." Kagami simply glared at her.

"Okay~, I'll be silent now."

Once everyone calmed down, the group continued their exploration, but everyone was way more vigilant in looking around for some reason. Just like every time before, they didn't make it very far before Tsukasa stopped them once more.

"Hey, Kona-chan, aren't those…" She pointed at some plants on the ground.

"Oh, good find… I was already wondering whether we would find some edible plants or not out here… Look at that, there are some herbs as well…" Konata pointed at a different location.

"You're right. Now I wonder if… Yuki-chan, did you see any mushrooms…?" Because mushrooms can be dangerous, Tsukasa let Miyuki take care of it. She didn't even ask whether she can differentiate between edible and non-edible ones because the answer was obvious.

"Yes, we walked past a couple edible, and not to mention delicious sorts not that long ago." Miyuki answered without any problems, just as anyone expected.

"That's awesome… Oh, together with the stuff we have at the cabin…"

"I think I know what you're thinking, Tsukasa… vegetable tempura is a very good idea~."

"As expected of Kona-chan~." She was spot on with her guess.

"Oh~." The other voiced their admiration. Nobody seemed to have anything against the idea.

"Then let's collect some of the edible ones and bring it back with us."

"Yes." Just as Konata suggested, everyone started collecting edible plants, herbs, and mushrooms. While occasionally verifying if they picked the right thing, especially mushrooms with Miyuki, the girls quickly gathered a mountain of ingredients.

"Haahh…" Kagami eventually let out a strained sigh. "You know, I don't really have anything against insects, but can't they shut up for a while… Especially those loud cicadas…" Nobody complained until now, but the area they were in was actually pretty loud. One would expect that a forest without civilization would be pretty much soundless, but the forest was bustling with life, especially insects in the middle of summer and they make tons of noises.

"Now that you mention it…" The others just noticed it once Kagami voiced it out loud.

"Speaking about that… and tempura…" Konata suddenly had a complicated expression on her face.

"Eh…?" Kagami had no idea what she was talking about.

"Are cicadas edible…?" Out of the blue and with a serious look, she suddenly asked that.

"Beats me…" Kagami didn't even want to think about it.

"They might be good if you deep fry them."

"Eat them yourself!" She really wasn't a fan of the idea.

"You know, I've been wondering… Doesn't tempura taste good because of the batter? If that's the case, cicadas would work."

"Apologize!"

"Apologize to every tempura chef in the country!" Hiyori suddenly joined their conversation.

"Ahaha~." Konata started laughing in response.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't want to interrupt your sketch, but I couldn't help myself… Endless eight sucked terribly, but the reference was awesome." Hiyori noticed the two were referencing an anime and unconsciously retorted in Kagami's place. "Even though you're really scary, you're still pretty cool, Kagami-senpai."

"Just so you know, I was referencing the light novel and not the anime." Kagami tried to defend her honor because she wasn't an otaku after all. In her eyes, that is.

"That makes absolutely no difference." She had long lost the battle, though.

"Ehehe~." Konata simply continued to laugh while watching the two bickering.

Once they gathered enough, the girls went back to where their canoes were. It was a good thing that Miyuki secretly engraved some important landmarks in her brain because they almost got terribly lost. Konata and Tsukasa tried to take the lead on the way back because Konata suddenly felt like exploring as well, but it went as wrong as it could be. After walking in a perfect circle for about half an hour, Miyuki recognized a weirdly shaped tree and took over the lead from there. They walked for about ten more minutes and finally reached the lake again. Most of them looked happy and relieved when they were finally out of the forest, but Tsukasa looked somewhat disappointed.

"Aww, we didn't see Taichi, Yuji, and Keni again when we left…" She suddenly mentioned some names no one ever heard before.

"Ehm, who are you talking about…?" Konata raised an eyebrow while asking about the unknown names.

"I wanted to see my little tanuki friends again…"

"When did you name them…?"

"Just now." Tsukasa thought about it on the fly.

"That's… amazing… in some weird kind of way…"

After Tsukasa finished waving towards the forest, the girls finally entered the canoes. Because everyone, mainly Kagami, had already enough fun on the first canoe tour, the girls were back in their usual groups on their way back again.

…..

They reached the pier of their cabin soon enough, and everyone went inside after safely getting off their canoes and directly wanted to start preparing for the tempura. Well, most of them went inside at least. After Hiyori entered the cabin, Kagami closed the glass door and stayed outside together with Konata. Hiyori looked behind her once she noticed the closed door, but simply watched them disappearing behind a tree near the cabin because she felt like it would only end bed for her if she does anything after she looked at Kagami's face. Once she couldn't see them anymore, she also entered the kitchen where the others already were as well.

They thoroughly washed and cut the ingredients they gathered early together with some other vegetables they already had as a preparation for the tempura. Somewhere along the line, Minami, Yutaka, and Hiyori suggested taking care of the tempura alone in order to do something for their senpais. Miyuki and Tsukasa reluctantly agreed and then went to their room to relax a little. Thanks to that, the first years soon ran into a problem, though. For some, to them, unknown reason, the batter kept refusing to get the right consistency.

"Why is the batter so watery…? We added more than enough flour already, didn't we?"

"It seems right to me, Minami-chan… Maybe we should ask Konata-oneechan. She's really good at these kinds of things after all. But, I have no idea where she is, though… I haven't seen her since we came back."

"Oh, she stayed outside with Kagami-senpai when we went inside earlier." Hiyori remembered what happened when they entered the cabin.

"Ah, I see, can you go and ask her what we're doing wrong, Hiyori-chan?"

"D-Do I have to…?" She really didn't want to disturb Kagami on whatever she was planning by staying outside with Konata alone, especially after she caught a short glimpse of the smile she had when they left.

"Please~, you're the only one who knows where she is, Hiyori-chan." Yutaka's pleading eyes overpowered the fear of Kagami.

"Okay…" She gave up with a sigh and left the kitchen. Hiyori went outside and followed headed towards the place where to couple disappeared to. After looking around for a while, she finally found Kagami and Konata behind a huge tree. She wasn't sure what to expect when it comes to Konata and especially Kagami, but what she saw behind the tree easily destroyed even her wildest ideas, and she completely froze up, but was unable to avert her eyes.

"…" Not even a surprised gasp could escape her lips. The scene was just too shocking to her. Kagami had pinned Konata against a tree, and while making use of a conveniently grown root to make up for the height difference, the two were currently busy with making out with each other. They continued to kiss for what felt like an eternity, but finally parted after a while. The very moment their lips were apart again, Kagami directly stared in the direction where the empty shell of Hiyori was standing. Konata looked after a second as well, but was actually surprised.

"W-What is Hiyorin doing here…"

"Oh no~, what do we do now~?"

"Uh…" Konata slowly turned her head to look at Kagami, but looking bad she wished she didn't because the smile she saw sent shivers down her spine again, but not the good kind this time. "D-Don't tell me you planned this, Kagamin~…"

"I would never! It was pure coincidence that I made sure that she was watching us when we left earlier, Kona~."

"That's go-… Wait a moment…" She noticed that there was something wrong with that statement.

"Don't mind the small stuff…"

"That's my line, and that's definitely not _small_!"

"Ehehe~."

"Oi!" Konata had a hard time keeping up with her.

"It doesn't matter anyway, does it? It already happened."

"Unreasonable as always, I see…" Konata gave up. "Hey, Hiyorin, somehow I'm sorry about it, but that's how…"

"Oi, Hiyori, your nose is bleeding!" Kagami interrupted her because she wasn't done teasing Hiyori.

"Oh, you're right… Do you want a tissue?" Konata tried to make her life a little easier. "Hiyori…?" She noticed that the two haven't seen a single reaction from her yet. Seeing that, Konata walked up to her and waved her hand before Hiyori's face, but there was no reaction, not even her pupils were following the hand. "Oi, Hiyorin, anyone home…?" Konata gently pushed her a little, but just like a log, Hiyori simply fell backward on the ground without a single twitch.

"Ehm…" Kagami stopped smiling a little.

"Great, I hope you'll buy us a new one, Kagamin~… What was that about breaking her a _little_? She's completely done for. That's exactly why we can't have nice things…"

"Shut up, Kona." Neither of them was taking the situation even remotely seriously.

Stopping the nosebleed first, the two then each wrapped an arm of the still unconscious girl around their shoulders and carried her inside the cabin. Once they were there, the two carried her into the living room and laid her down on the sofa and then sat down at the one next to it themselves. While they were waiting for Hiyori to wake up again, the two started chatting.

"Don't you think you overdid it a little, Kagamin~…?"

"It feels pretty weird hearing that from you…"

"Think about how _I_ feel asking _you_ that…" Konata's the one who usually is like that after all.

"Fair point… Well, I think it was appropriate…"

"Really…?" She raised an eyebrow and looked at the passed-out girl on the sofa next to them.

"Did you expect that she's so weak?"

"And who's the one who broke her and made her mentally unstable?"

"Yutaka!"

"Well… She started it, but I think your part in the story was _slightly_ bigger, Kagamin~."

"You can't prove that!"

"Do I even have to…?" While the two continued to talk about responsibilities without any seriousness in their voices, 15 minutes quickly passed, and it seemed Hiyori was coming back to life as she started twitching.

"Oh my god!" She bolted up and directly started shouting. "I had the most vivid dream ever! I think I should slowly get help… I have to stop fantasizing about… because… ehm…" Her voice slowly got fainter as she noticed two girls sitting near her with one of them having a bright smile on her lips.

"Oh, what was that dream about~?"

"…" Konata didn't care anymore, gave up, and let Kagami have her fun.

"Ehm, w-well… That's a little complicated…"

"Is that so? Wait, don't tell me it was about me…?" Kagami tried to be serious, but she simply couldn't get rid of her smile.

"Uh… I-I'm very sorry, Kagami-senpai!" Hiyori suddenly prostrated herself on the sofa. "Because you teased me so much, I somehow ended up having a very… lively dream about you and Konata-senpai…"

"Heh~, is that so? What was it about?" She didn't plan on going easy on her.

"W-What…? I would really prefer if I keep it to myself…"

"You _dreamed_ about us, so you have to tell us."

"Ehh…" Kagami's unreasonableness won once more. "W-Well… I dreamed about you and Konata-senpai m-making out and… I-I'm very sorry for letting my delusions ran wild like that!"

"Oh, it's just that… You don't have to feel sorry then." Kagami was a little disappointed that she just _dreamed_ about the actual thing that happened.

"W-What do you mean with just that…?" Hiyori didn't understand her.

"Why should you feel sorry for something that you saw with your own eyes?"

"…" Hiyori froze for a second after digesting those words. "Wait, what…? Wait, wait, wait, wait… What did you say just now…?"

"That's exactly what happened earlier."

"I see…. Ehhhh?! S-Stop with the teasing already, Kagami-senpai, there's no way… that…" Hiyori wasn't able to finish her sentence because Kagami didn't feel like explaining anymore. She turned to face Konata, wrapped her arms around her neck and simply kissed her. After hearing a soft thud, she Kagami parted from her again and looked at Hiyori.

"Seriously…?" She looked at the corpse on the sofa and sighed.

"Good job, Kagamin~, you managed to break her even more… I'm really not sure how that's even possible, but you made it."

"Shut up, Kona… Is it really so easy to make someone faint?"

"For you, it sure is. Well, what now…?"

"Good question, I definitely don't want to wait for another half an hour…" Saying so, she looked around and noticed the cup of water I front of her on the table.

"You sure are mercilessness…" Konata immediately understood what she was about to do.

"Ehehe~." With a smile on her lips, Kagami grabbed the cup and emptied the water above Hiyori's head, who instantly sprung back to life again.

"Oh man, what a dream… Wait, why am I wet…? Ah!" Hiyori noticed that she wasn't alone. "K-Kagami-senpai… Konata-senpai… T-That's awkward… I didn't sleep talk, r-right?"

"Hiyori." An icy chill ran through the living room as Kagami finally had enough.

"Y-Yes?"

"Look at me." Having absolutely no way to refuse Kagami, Hiyori fearfully looked at her, but Kagami had already got into position, and once Hiyori had the right position, Kagami gave her such a hard forehead flick that Hiyori almost made a somersault in the air from the recoil before she landed with her back on the sofa. Blowing away the steam from her finger, Kagami faced Konata again and gave her another kiss. "Does this feel like it's a dream?"

"N-No, a dream doesn't hurt like this…" She carefully held the throbbing wound on her forehead with tears in her eyes, but then opened her eyes wide in shock and freezes while looking at the couple. Once she realized what just happened, only incoherent words left her mouth. "Eh… Uh… Wha-… Eh… Haa… Ehm…" It continued like that for a while, but she managed to recover, meaning she completely freaked out. "W-W-What?! After teasing me so much with super suggestive things… You're actually… Haha, yeah, sure… That's… I can't even…"

"Even though we called it teasing, we simply stopped holding back, though." With one little sentence, Kagami completely threw off Hiyori.

"Ahaha… T-There's no way that's true… That would mean you were simply f-flirting the entire time… right in front of my eyes… Impossible… I definitely would've noticed that… I have great confidence in my yuri radar after all…"

"Hiyorin, look in your heart…" Konata finally said something again. "How often did you doubt us, but brushed it off as teasing in the end?"

"Nev-… Oh…" Hiyori was about to deny it, but then had a short recap inside her head and stopped moving altogether.

"It seems like you remembered something, huh?"

"I… I… I… n-no, ehhh…" Hiyori just couldn't get herself to accept it.

"Oh, you're back up again, Hiyori-chan, that's good to see. We were worried, you know?"

"Are you feeling better?"

"You looked pretty bad earlier…"

"What happened?" The other girls were all worried about her and arrived in the living room after a while to check up on her.

"Girls~!" Hiyori seemed really happy and relieved that the others joined them because she could need some backup. "Listen to that! Kagami-senpai kissed Konata-senpai, and now they're trying to tell me that the two are a couple! Can you believe that~? Those two are pretty funny, aren't… Eh…?" Hiyori started venting on the girls, but then noticed the super lukewarm reaction of everyone.

"Wow… that's a… surprise…" Just like Tsukasa, everyone voiced out similar words and even Hiyori effortlessly noticed that they were faking it.

"H-Huh…? D-Don't tell me everyone here except me knows…?" Hiyori wasn't sure how she should feel about it, but that didn't matter anymore once she realized what this actually meant. "W-Wait a moment! No, really, wait, wait, wait… Everyone, please wait a moment!" Calming down was impossible for her already. "It-It-It-It's true?! T-They really are a couple?! Kagami-senpai and Konata-senpai are a couple? A couple as in being together? Being together as in dating?!" Hiyori had a hard time holding back her excitement, but once she saw everyone, including the couple in question nodding, all restraints flew out of the window. She immediately jumped off the sofa, prostrated herself in front of the two and started worshipping them. "Gods! You two are gods!" She finally believed them, and her fear of Kagami vanished in an instant. "Oh great Kagami-sama, and equally great Konata-same, please share your heroic story with this lowly me!" In short, she wanted to hear the details.

"Calm down, Hiyorin… Here, have a tissue first…" Konata handed her a tissue over because her nose was bleeding the entire time already.

"Thanks." She quickly wiped some blood away and then stuffed the remaining tissue into her nostrils. Hiyori didn't care about her appearance at the moment because it was too much work and there were far more important things right now. "Details! Now!"

"I think this could take a while… Girls, let's go back to the kitchen for the tempura…" Tsukasa urged everyone to leave, and Hiyori, together with the couple were the only ones that stayed in the living room.

"Just ask what you want to know, it's too troublesome else." Kagami didn't want to bother explaining everything from scratch.

"Oh~." That might've been a mistake. "Okay, first things first. How long have you two been dating?"

"About a month ago…"

"Eh, only a month…?" Hiyori was so excited that she didn't let Konata finish talking.

"… was our first-year anniversary, is what I wanted to say."

"O-Oh…" She hadn't expected that. "O-Over a year already?!"

"To be exact, on tanabata last month."

"S-Seriously…? Why on tanabata, though?"

"That's also Kagamin~'s birthday and the whole setting of tanabata wishes and birthday presents kind of was convenient for confessing… or something like that… Well, it mainly happened because I couldn't keep it in anymore and it happened to be at the same time…"

"It was long overdue, if you ask me, Kona."

"I really don't want to hear that from you."

"So Konata-sama confessed?"

"Could you stop that -sama thing? That feels really weird…"

"Oh, really now?" Kagami suddenly interrupted her.

"Ah…" Konata forgot that she occasionally calls her like that as well for fun as well. "Well, it's true that I confessed… Kagamin~ tried to attack me before that already, though."

"I never attacked you! N-Never…" Once she thought about it again, she started doubting her own words.

"Not even when you tried to kiss me before we started dating…?" She named only one example to keep it short.

"T-That's… Anyway… Oh, Hiyori, have another tissue…" While the two were reminiscing about the past, the tissue in Hiyori's nostrils couldn't hold it anymore and gave up.

"Thanks… Can I have the whole package? I'm pretty sure I'm going to need all of them…" She didn't even try to cut down on her excitement.

"Sure…"

"All done…" Having successfully stuffed her nostrils with a fresh tissue, Hiyori continued. "Why did you two start dating?"

"Why…? What kind of question is that? Because we wanted to…?" Konata didn't know how to answer this question.

"Well… Maybe you simply wanted to try out how it is to date a girl, or were bored, or wanted to play a little, or…"

"Or because we fell in love with each other?!" Konata sounded a little annoyed from Hiyori's suggestion, but then felt incredibly cringy… "Uwah, that sounded so cheesy…"

"You're pretty good at that, Kona. Still, even though it's cheesy, that's what happened, Hiyori…"

"How did you fell in love…?" Feeling a little intimidated, she stopped guessing.

"That's actually a pretty standard story… We started off as regular friends, but we ended up spending more and more time together and it somehow just happened…"

"That's all…?" Hiyori was expecting a little more.

"Well, I think we were attracted to each other since day one because it never felt like normal friendship to me and it just took us some time to realize what's going on."

"Sounds about right, but there was also all that funny stuff Kagamin~ did since I got to know her and that also helped with falling for her. Like for example…"

"Kona~."

"So, Hiyori, any other questions?" That was one of the fastest topic changes Konata ever did in her life.

"D-Does that mean you two are completely serious about it?"

"As serious as one can get."

"If you don't believe us, you can ask my mother, Hiyori. She also interrogated us already…"

"Y-Y-Your mother knows about it, Kagami-sama?"

"Stop that -sama or I'll kill you." She just gets angry when Konata calls her like that, but Hiyori didn't have the same rights.

"Your mother knows, Kagami-senpai?" She didn't even need to think about changing it back.

"Sure, we told our families about it after all."

"E-Ehhh…? S-Seriously…? You two are gods after all, aren't you?"

"Shut up, Hiyori."

"B-But…" She was convinced by it already. "Wow… That's amazing… How did it go?"

"Kagamin~'s father played the villain a little and tested us, but it was an easy victory~."

"Except for him, I let him suffer quite a bit afterward…" Kagami started to smile.

"Oh, I can see that." Hiyori had no problems with believing her. "Still, that's a really awesome and brave thing to do."

"Well, we had to because we're really bad at hiding it and also didn't want to hide it anymore."

"Weren't you scared at all?"

"A little concerned, I guess… We were lucky and already knew more or less before that they're at least okay with it."

"Not only did I find a real live yuri couple, but they're also my friends and completely serious about it…" Hiyori was about to step over to the other side in joy. "And, any plans for the future already?"

"Sure~."

"Eh?" The reaction came in stereo.

"Don't you remember, Kagami? I thought we're going to get a dog?" She referred to the tanuki incident from earlier that day.

"Shut up, Kona." There was even less malice behind than usual this time.

"Ehehe~."

"Ahem…" Hiyori tried to get the attention back to her because the two were about to enter their own world again. "Aside from that…?"

"That's a secret~." The couple answered at the same time.

"Eh?" Hiyori wasn't the only one who reacted like that. All three girls had the same response.

"What are you planning, Kona?"

"It's not yet final, so, who knows~." Konata tried to sound mysterious. "And you?"

"Interestingly enough, exactly the same."

"Is that so~?"

"It surely is~."

"J-Just to make sure…" Hiyori tried to enter their world again. "Both of your, not yet finished plans, involve each other, right?"

"Involve? It's completely built around that." Their ability to synch their sentences was as outstanding as ever.

"Heh~?" Even the couple themselves was surprised by that. "Ehehe~." Followed by a stupid grin.

"Wow…" Hiyori wasn't sure if she should give in to her delusions or vomit a rainbow because the scene was too sweet. "Y-You two sure are something else."

"Thank you very much." They simply took it as a compliment. "Anything else, Hiyori?"

"Tons of stuff!" She was just warming up after all.

"Hiyorin, change your tissue first…" After another tissue had capitulated, the blood from her nosebleed was freely dripping again.

After that was taken care off, Hiyori continued to ask question after question and half an hour passed in the blink of an eye. She didn't seem like calming down anytime soon, but the couple started to get tired of it already. Once she started asking some slightly perverted questions, they finally had enough.

"When did you two have…" Hiyori was about to ask another question, Kagami stopped her.

"Hold it right there, Hiyori."

"Ehh…? It was about to get even more interesting now…" She was clearly disappointed because after she had prepared another fresh tissue for her nose, she was getting ready for the kinky stuff.

"Kona and I are getting a little tired of it, you know? We understand that you're curious because we know your… preferences and both of us are happy that you're so interested in our story, but don't you think it's enough?" Kagami tried to stay as polite as possible because she was partly responsible for the backslash after she teased Hiyori so much, but the couple had reached the point where they didn't want anymore.

"B-But, I still have so many more questions… It's not like I don't understand, but… so… many… more… questions…" She had a hard time giving up.

"I have a proposal for you, Hiyori." Kagami had thought of a way to get rid of her endless questions.

"Oh, what is it?" She seemed interested.

"You're allowed to ask exactly one more question."

"Ehh? Only one?" Hiyori was obviously disappointed.

"One question where everything is allowed. No matter what you ask, Kona and I will answer it truthfully."

"A-Anything…?"

"Anything."

"…" Hiyori froze for a second while she thought about the endless possibilities. "A-As expected of Kagami-senpai, you're truly terrifying… Okay, let's do that, but don't change your mind!"

"I never step back on something I promised." The two exchanged a sharp glare and then nodded.

"I need some time to think about it, though… I really don't want to waste this opportunity."

"Sure, take your time~." Kagami obviously had nothing against it because that means she and Kona had more time to relax that way.

"By the way…" It was time for a slight topic change. "Have you two read my newest manga?"

"You mean the one from two weeks ago, Hiyorin?"

"Yes, that one." Even though Hiyori was genuinely interested in their opinion, it was also a test to probe how far she can go with her one question because the manga was rather _graphic_.

"Yeah, Kona and I read it together, and I think it was rather _extreme_ if you ask me…"

"Huh?" Yutaka came back from the kitchen at the perfect time and looked confused. "Didn't you say that Hiyori-chan's latest work was pretty tame last week, Kagami-senpai?" She was carrying three cups and offered them to the girls. "Miyuki-senpai made some tea…"

"T-Thanks… Yutaka…" Kagami sighed and facepalmed so hard that it left a mark. After that, she looked at Hiyori and sighed again. "Haa… When you're back in the kitchen, could you ask Miyuki how much loss of blood is okay before it gets dangerous…? Hiyori… you need another tissue…"

"Ehehe~…" Continuing to ignore her nosebleed, Hiyori only kept staring at the couple with a bright smile.

"Ahaha…" Feeling somewhat awkward after getting caught, the two looked away with a dry laugh.

"O-Oh my god…" Hiyori looked ecstatic when she came back from the land of delusions. "I-I think I need to rethink my question again… I thought I had a good one, but it looks like I can get way~ more extreme with it…"

"Great…" Kagami started to regret giving her a freebie.

"Hehe~, look forward to it~." It was easy to see that Hiyori was enjoying every second of it after Kagami made her life a hell as well.

"Whatever…" Kagami gave up. "But for now, the topic is over. I really don't want to talk about us anymore. Think of something else to talk about, okay?" It wasn't a question even though it sounded like one.

"Dinner is ready~." Tsukasa's voice from the kitchen ended it anyway.

"Now that's what I call timing~." Konata concluded their conversation with a joke and the three joined the others for dinner.

….

Dinner was somewhat different than normal. The tempura with the fresh ingredients was extraordinarily good, but Konata and Kagami had a hard time enjoying it. Hiyori may have agreed to stop asking the couple about various things for the time being, but that didn't stop her from intensely watching every single interaction of the two because she didn't want to miss a single detail. Even though it was slightly awkward, dinner ended on a silent note, and once they were done with eating, Hiyori was getting nervous again.

"Thanks for the food… Now… if everyone please excuse me… I need to… room… because… sketchbook…" She didn't even have time to properly finish her sentence and disappeared from the kitchen because she had a date with her sketchbook. A lot of things happened today that greatly sparked her creativity and lots of things needed to be drawn.

"Haa…" Kagami looked exhausted. She had a lot of fun most of the day, but the last few hours mentally tired her completely out.

"Should we go to our room as well, Kagamin~?"

"That's a really good idea." The couple decided to leave as well. Yutaka and Minami then started cleaning up the kitchen and Miyuki, and Tsukasa were the only ones left. Once she noticed the two were alone, Tsukasa used the chance to talk about something.

"Yuki-chan… about what we talked about yesterday…" Tsukasa remembered the conversation she had with Konata earlier that day and decided to address the issue before it got too late.

"Hmm…?"

"Ah, let's better go to our room first… It maybe could take a while…"

"Okay…" Miyuki had no idea what's going on, but she noticed that it was important and didn't say anything more. The two then went to their room as well and had a chance to tackle their issue again.

…..

Konata and Kagami arrived in their room and immediately threw themselves on the bed. Once they had recovered a little from the very taxing last couple hours, the two started chatting.

"Haa…" Kagami sighed again. "We should've taken a different approach with Hiyori… She freaked out way too much… and all of us took way too much damage because of it…"

"Kagamin~?"

"Yes?"

"Shut up." Konata couldn't believe her. "Whose fault do you think that is?"

"Society's?" She played innocent as she cutely tilted her head.

"Oi! Since when am I the serious person in this relationship?!" Konata wasn't very comfortable or happy with her new position.

"Hehe~." Kagami completely ignored her complaints.

"Don't you think it was the fault of a certain _slightly_ sadistic girl?"

"Who might you be talking about?"

"So, that's your game, huh?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Kona? Am I a sadist just because I had some fun with Hiyori?"

"It's not about having fun, it's about the way of…" Konata suddenly stopped. "What am I even complaining about…? Seeing Hiyorin freaking out was pretty funny and my sadistic Kagamin~ is quite sexy." She gave up on being the serious person pretty quickly again. "Well, whatever…" With that, the topic was over.

"Ehehe~." Kagami seemed happy with the way Konata gave up.

Because the chatting time was over, the two focused on something more important and started their usual evening routine. They looked for a comfortable spot on the bed and started cuddling. Konata snuggled against Kagami's side and tightly hugged her. Both continued to enjoy each other's warmth and were about to lose themselves in their embrace, but Konata suddenly stopped. She seemed to have noticed something and looked around in the room.

"Did you hear that, Kagamin~?"

"Did I hear what?" She hadn't noticed a thing.

"Hmm… No, there was definitely something…" Konata let go of Kagami, stood up, left the bed, and went to the door. She quickly opened it, and Hiyori suddenly fell into the room because she was leaning against said door before. She landed on the floor before Konata's feet and looked for a plausible excuse.

"Y-You know, I totally didn't try to listen in at all! I was just nearby by pure chance and heard some suspicious noises rooms coming from your room. Being the upright person, I am, I just was concerned and wanted to check up on you to see if everything's okay." She was a bit panicky.

"Is that so…?" Konata ignored her desperate tries and looked with interest at the dropped sketchbook next to Hiyori.

"A-Absolutely! I had absolutely no intention to find out what's happening behind your door. None at all! A-Anyway… I'm very sorry and good night!" She hastily grabbed her notebook with some rather interesting, but not further mentioned sketches and quickly left their room again.

"Have a good night and don't stay up too long, Hiyorin~." Konata waved after the fleeing figure of Hiyori and closed the door after a while again. After that, she let out a small sigh and went back to the bed. She snuggled against Kagami again as if nothing happened. Kagami, as well, sighed shortly, but also didn't say a single word and the two continued where they left off before the interruption.

Just like that, day two of their uneventful holiday trip ended with another peaceful night and a relaxing third day was about to start for the group.

* * *

.

2/3

For anyone wondering, the cicada reference is from 'The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya'.


	40. Another summer trip (Part 3)

Day two of their trip ended peacefully, but the morning of day three had a slightly rough start. After the events of yesterday when Hiyori found out that Konata and Kagami are an actual couple, she had basically fused with her sketchbook and she hadn't stopped following the two ever since breakfast was over. The couple tried their best to simply ignore her because nothing worked on Hiyori anyway.

Because they had explored the area enough already the days before, the group decided to simply relax around the lake for the day.

They got ready, changed into their swimsuits and went to the small beach at the lake. Konata had found a huge parasol in the shed next to the cabin and together with two towels, Kagami, and she got comfortable under it. Strictly speaking, there were three people, though. Hiyori wasn't together with the couple under the parasol, but she made herself comfortable on the beach near them and watched the two while drawing in her sketchbook. Next to her were already three used up tissues full of blood because a very taxing event happened a couple minutes ago. Konata and Kagami had applied sunscreen for each other, and because they decided to ignore Hiyori earlier that day, both didn't hold back, and not a single spot of their bodies left unoiled. Thanks to that, Hiyori had already suffered a lot of damage, but a lot of pages in her book were already filled with sketches.

Miyuki, Tsukasa, Minami, and Yutaka went directly into the water and started playing. Konata had also found an inflatable ball in the shed and handed it over to Tsukasa earlier. While Konata and Kagami were trying to relax under the parasol, the four had fun playing with the ball in the water while Hiyori was still busy with her sketches.

The peaceful scenes continued for a while, but Hiyori had finally run out of ideas and approached the couple.

"Hey~." She sat down next to them with a bright smile on her lips.

"Haa…" Kagami sighed because she already had a vague idea what's about to happen.

"You know, thanks to you two, I had lots of ideas for tons of new mangas, but is it possible to get some _live_ inspirations because my memory is a little hazy when it comes to some details.

"Hiyorin… Oh, look at that…" Konata tried to get her attention diverted to something else and away from them. She pointed at the lake, more precisely at Yutaka and Minami, who were looking pretty intimate while playing in the water together. "Aren't those two more interesting?"

"So, how about it?" Hiyori didn't even look at the water and stayed focused on the couple.

"Haa…" Kagami gave up with another sigh because she knew it was no use. "Okay… Together with your freebie question, you get one a _physical_ request as well… Oh, but there are obviously some limits this time, and the decision has to happen immediately." Giving Hiyori completely free reign over that could end badly.

"W-What?!" Hiyori was just a _little_ surprised by the unexpected offer. "U-Uhm… W-Well… Okay, I'll settle for a good kiss…" Because it happened too fast, she didn't have enough time to think of something better, but the idea of two girls in bikinis making out wasn't half bad at all.

"Heh~." Kagami started grinning. "If it's just that much, there's no problem~." Her smile got even bigger. She then stood up from her towel and looked at Konata who was about to stand up as well, but Kagami didn't let her. She pushed her down again and added a little extra _service_ for Hiyori. Kagami got on top of her, and while continuing to push her down, she gave Konata a deep, passionate, and extensively long kiss. After parting again, Kagami got up and offered Konata a hand to help her up as well. Without letting go of her hand or saying a word, Kagami let her away from the place under the parasol, and the two joined the others in the water. Hiyori didn't follow them, though. Strictly speaking, she couldn't because she was completely frozen in place, not the mention that she hadn't even noticed that she was alone. About five minutes passed, and Hiyori started working again. She shook her head a few times and then grabbed the tissue the couple placed on her lap before leaving. After her nosebleed was taken care of, Hiyori decided to stay under the parasol for a little longer because she needed a moment to fully register what just happened.

"T-They're goddesses after all…" It was the only conclusion she could come to. "Although… Kagami-senpai might as well be a devil… or a demon lord… She's one hell of a dangerous girl…" She realized once more that messing with her too much could end up very badly for her. Hiyori looked at the lake and saw the others happily playing in the water, but because she couldn't move yet, she grabbed her sketchbook again and draw a couple more pages. Some more minutes passed, and Hiyori finally joined the group in the water. She decided to stick to Minami and Yutaka for now, though, because the, in her words, sadistic demon pseudo-tsundere lord goddess had scared her a little again, but it wasn't a bad case of being scared this time.

Everyone played in the water for a good while, and by the time they finally left the lake again, it was already rather late, and the girls were pretty exhausted.

….

Once they left the water, the group went back to the cabin, and once everyone took a quick shower after being in the lake for a couple hours, the girls went back to their rooms to relax a little.

About half an hour passed and everyone recovered from their fatigue to some degree and met up in the living room again. Because they used up a lot of energy by playing for so long, the girls were pretty hungry. It was also already early evening, and so they decided to start dinner preparations. Because this dinner was a little more complex, everyone helped to prepare for the barbecue they planned to do on the terrace of the cabin. Konata, Kagami, and Tsukasa went to the kitchen to prepare the meat and veggies while the others went to the terrace to get the grill ready.

"Sooo hungry…" Once Konata saw all the meat in front of her, she started complaining already and then looked at Tsukasa who was busy with the vegetables. "Oh, a whole cabbage! I'll eat the whole thing raw!" She grabbed the cabbage and was about to make a run for it, but Kagami stopped her.

"Bear with it a little longer, idiot." She placed a hand on her shoulder and made her unable to flee.

"Let me go~! The god of cabbage is enraged! He wants me to use this offering!" Konata sounded pretty serious, but Kagami easily managed to calm her down.

"Shut up." With a rather strong, but hearty chop on the head, she made her return the cabbage to Tsukasa, and the three continued to prepare the meat and veggies.

They made some skewers and other cuts for the grill together with some side dishes and joined the others with a couple trays of food on the terrace. The girls were still busy with preparations as well. The four had finished cleaning the grill, and while Miyuki, Minami, and Yutaka got the table ready and made some decorations on the terrace with some lamps that they found in the shed. At the same time, Hiyori had placed some coal on the grill and was about to light it when Konata and the others showed up.

"Ah, Konata-senpai, good timing. Have you lighted a grill before? How much of that liquid barbecue lighter do I need?"

"One bottle per barbecue session." Konata obviously lied, but she thought it could be fun.

"Oh, that's easy then." Because she never did it before, she easily believed her and emptied the whole bottle on the coal.

"Ah, but stay away from the grill when lighting it because there's occasionally a fireball…"

"Okay~." Hiyori stepped a few steps back, ignited a match and threw it into the grill. The next thing everyone saw was a huge fireball above the grill, but no one got hurt, and Hiyori wasn't mad at all by Konata's joke. "Wow~, lighting a grill is super fun~."

"I know, right?!" The enthusiasm was mutual.

"You two little…" Kagami wasn't having as much fun as them. She let the two idiots alone and joined the others to finish up the preparations.

Hiyori and Konata calmed down after a while and made the grill ready before joining the others as well. Once everything was finished, Konata and Tsukasa put the skewers and some other things on the grill and took care of it while the other girls swarmed them like hungry wolves. The food was soon done, and everyone went to the table on the terrace. The group ate together and had an overall good time while chatting with each other. Time quickly passed while they were having fun and it slowly started to get dark in the area. Hiyori and Konata then first looked at the creepy forest and then at each other with a grin because they remembered something.

"It's time, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is, Konata-senpai." The two looked pretty excited.

"Hey, girls, isn't this area perfect for a walk of courage? How about we…" Konata had not even time to finish her suggestion.

"Nope."

"N-No, thank you…"

"E-Eeek! N-No…"

"That's really not a good idea."

"I think so, too."

"Ehh… No way…" Konata didn't expect those answers and wasn't happy at all.

"You all are no fun at all…" Hiyori was equally disappointed by their reactions.

"It's way too dangerous to walk through an unknown forest at night." Miyuki was concerned about the safety of everyone.

"I-I really don't want to enter the forest…" Yutaka looked visibly scared just by thinking about it.

"I'm scared, and I don't want to!" Tsukasa thought similarly about it and was pretty frank about it.

"I have to agree with those two. If they're too scared, we shouldn't do this…" Minami was more concerned about Tsukasa and especially Yutaka.

"I just don't want to~." Kagami was simply being Kagami. A part of her was also having a bad feeling about Hiyori and Konata organizing a walk of courage, but that was only a secondary concern.

"Aww man…" The two openly showed their dissatisfaction.

Once the topic was off the table again, they chatted a little more, but then went inside into the living room after some cleaning up to find something else to do in the evening.

"Oh, I think we have some more board and card games if I remember right… How about it?" Minami remembered the game of Monopoly from yesterday and that there were even more in the cupboard where it came from.

"Sure, _analog_ games are, interestingly enough, fairly entertaining." With Konata's approval, Minami went to the cupboard and spread every game she found on the table before the sofas.

The group played board games for a couple hours, and while having a surprisingly high amount of fun with all those _old_ games, it got really late really fast. Because they were getting tired, the girls decided to end the game night with a good old game of old maid. Konata and Kagami were winning almost every game up until now, but old maid apparently wasn't their game. Hiyori had won the game already, and she looked pretty happy when she lost her last card, not exactly because she had won, but rather because she could spend more time with her sketchbook now. Yutaka finished in second place soon after and followed her to their room. After that, it took a little while longer, but Miyuki and Tsukasa got rid of their cards as well. The two stayed in the living room, though, and watched how even Minami beat Konata and Kagami with ease who won most of the time until now. While they were waiting for Minami to finish, Tsukasa had fallen asleep and was leaning against Miyuki's shoulder with a comfortable expression on her face. Minami placed her last card on the table and was about to leave the room as well, but Miyuki stopped her

"Could you wait a bit, Minami-san?"

"Hmm…? Sure, what is it?" She didn't know what's going on, but she sat down on the sofa again.

"W-Well…" Miyuki looked nervous all of a sudden. "W-Wow… was it that hard for you two as well…?" She looked at Kagami and Konata for moral support, but the two were completely absorbed in their game of old maid and were no help at all. "M-Minami-san, there's something really important I have to tell you, but you first have to promise me to absolutely tell no one about this!"

"Okay…" Minami looked confused, but because she noticed that it seemed really serious, she only nodded. "I promise."

"Not to Yutaka-san, your family, my family, anyone else and especially not Hiyori-san…" She especially mentioned her because she saw what happened to Konata and Kagami.

"O-Okay…" It was apparently even more serious than Minami thought. "But, what about Tsukasa-senpai and the two over there…?" She pointed at the couple that was still in their own zone.

"They know about the contents because they're more or less involved in it…"

"Oh, I see. Then, please tell me."

"You recently found out that Konata-san and Kagami-san are a couple and you were fascinated by them…"

"Yes… Because they're the only same-sex couple I know and that made me interested in them…"

"That's exactly why I need to tell you something…"

"Eh?" Minami still had no idea what's going on.

"Y-You see… Tsukasa-san here…" She patted the head of the girls sleeping on her shoulder. "… and I are a couple as well…"

"…" Minami stayed frozen in place for a couple moments. "Wait, what…?" She looked somewhat shocked at the sudden confession. "You two… like Konata-senpai and Kagami-senpai… Really?" She hadn't expected something like that at all. "Seriously…? I had no idea…"

"Tsukasa-san and I tried our best to hide it after all."

"Wow… Wait, why are you telling me then?"

"That's their fault…" She pointed at Konata and Kagami who flinched in response, but kept concentrating on their game.

"What do they have to do with that?"

"Because the two are _so_ open about their relationship, we became a _little_ envious, and it became somewhat painful to hide completely…"

"I see, yeah… _those two_ are definitely something else…" Minami agreed with her.

"Ha! Now I've got you, Kagamin~! Now I'll draw that card that definitely isn't the joker and… Eh?!"

"Too naïve, Kona! You're ten years too early to beat me with a petty trick like that!" The couple in question was too busy to answer. The two totally weren't trying to avoid getting roped into Miyuki and Minami's conversation and getting scolded for being too open again.

"Indeed…" Miyuki could only nod.

"But, why are you telling only me then?"

"We initially wanted to tell no one for a while longer, but since it got fairly painful and Tsukasa-san suffered even more than I by having to hold back so much, we decided to tell you for now because outside of Kagami-san and Konata-san, we have the most contact with you."

"That's true… We often see each other because we're neighbors." Minami understood her reasoning.

"That's one point… More importantly for me was the relationship between you and me…"

"E-Eh…?"

"Remember yesterday when the two of us talked about the couple?"

"Hmm… Oh, yes, we did…"

"How you were so fascinated by the first same-sex couple you know and how amazing it is that the two are so open about it…"

"Ah… A lot of things make sense now…" Minami remembered how Miyuki looked so depressed yesterday and felt bad as well now. "I-I'm very sorry, that wasn't my plan…"

"It's okay… It's entirely my fault after all. Yes, I was pretty hurt and when Tsukasa told me again that she isn't comfortable with hiding it that much made it only worse, but it's all my fault. I decided to tell you because you're my oldest friends, Minami-san and we basically grew up together. I could say you're like family, but because I don't plan on telling my family anytime soon, this comparison wouldn't work here… I'm not yet confident enough to tell them, but I trust you a whole lot, and because you're important to me, I couldn't bear it hiding from you after our conversation yesterday anymore… I'm sorry for even hiding it this long to you, Minami-san…" Miyuki felt incredibly bad for not only hurting Tsukasa, but also for keeping secrets towards her oldest friend as well.

"M-Miyuki-oneechan…" Minami had no idea how to react to this emotional confession, and while completely ignoring her established character, she hugged Miyuki and even caught Tsukasa in the process, but she simply continued sleeping in her comatose state. "Y-You don't have to blame yourself that much! I'm pretty sure it wasn't easy for you either. I'm more than happy enough that you told me now and I'm not angry at all! T-Tsukasa-senpai also doesn't look like she's blaming you!" She looked at her peaceful sleeping face while trying to cheer Miyuki up.

"I see… Thank you very much, Minami-san." She started smiling again. "Onee-chan, huh? That takes me back. It's been a while since you last called me like that." Even though she was emotionally unstable until now, she didn't miss that detail.

"Ah!" Minami immediately froze while her entire face turned red. She then stopped hugging Miyuki and went back to her place on the sofas while she tried to hide her face behind her palms in shame. "I-It was an accident! I didn't plan on doing that! I was just so… and… wahhh…" She was really embarrassed about her little slip of the tongue.

"I don't mind you know? It was kind of nice hearing it again after so long…" Miyuki was actually kind of happy about it.

"R-Really…?" Minami shyly peeked through the gaps of her fingers at really. "No, p-please forget about it!"

"Aww…" Miyuki looked sad again.

"M-Maybe occasionally when no one is there…" She was about to break under the pressure. "W-Where were we again…?" She changed the topic in a hurry. "A-About you and Tsukasa-san, how did it happen?"

"Ah, that's also mostly the _fault_ of Konata-san and Kagami-san…" She looked at the idiot couple again who still hadn't finished their game of old maid.

"Eh…?"

"The four of us usually spent our time together, but once that with Konata-san and Kagami-san started, the two spent almost every free minute with each other. Because of that, Tsukasa-san felt rather lonely, and the two of us started spending more time alone together as well. It took a good while, and I didn't think it would happen, but one day, I, or rather, we, realized that it's pretty similar, although way less extreme than those two and the rest kind of, simply happened…"

"It simply happened?"

"I don't understand it that well either… We just enjoyed each other's company more and more, and one day, we simply wanted more than friendship…" Even Miyuki didn't have a good explanation for that.

"I see, love is random after all…" Minami had no idea, but she thought it sounded good.

"So it seems." She agreed with her. The two continued to chat for a little while, and Miyuki explained more about her and Tsukasa's story, but Minami started to get tired as well. It was the middle of the night already after all.

"Thank you for telling me… Can you tell me a little more another day? I want to talk a little longer, but I'm really tired now…" Minami didn't want to, but it was no use.

"Of course, Minami-san, but please remember, don't tell anyone…"

"I definitely won't. Well then, thank you for telling me and good night, Miyuki-oneechan."

"Hehe, good night, Minami-san." While both were smiling, Minami left the living room.

"Noo~, I looost… How could that happen~."

"Hehehe, you're no match for me after all, Kona~." Just in the moment when Minami was gone, the couple finished their game of old maid, and, as usual, their acting was extraordinarily bad.

"Mmnn… Are you done, Yuki-chan?" Tsukasa, as well, woke up at a suspiciously convenient time.

"Yes, we're done, Tsukasa-san."

"Good… Then we can go to bed now, right…?" She looked at her with sleepy eyes.

"That's a very good idea… Good night, Kagami-san, Konata-san."

"Night~." The two stood up and went to their room.

"Good job, Miyuki, I mean, good night~." Konata was obviously listening the entire time and congratulated her for averting a possible crisis.

"Should we go to bed as well, Kona?"

"Hmm… How a serious game of old maid first?"

"That's better… We were playing for time only after all…"

"I'll be victorious this time!"

"I doubt that the result will be any different from the fake one earlier, Kona~."

"Bring it on!"

The two played seriously now for a while, but because old maid with only two players wasn't exactly what one would describe exciting, the two finished after playing only seven games and then went to their room as well. Whether or not they continued _playing_ there was a different story that probably only the two know.

…

Another peaceful day ended, and the fourth one was only a half day because the girls had to head back home around noon. The chances are high that it's going to be an equally peaceful day, if not even more because it's only half a day.

Konata and Kagami woke up rather early for staying up so long the day before, but neither of them felt like standing up anytime soon. To make the lost time not completely go to waste, the two simply cuddle for a while and finally left the bed about an hour later. They got dressed and wanted to leave the room, but they encountered something at least relatively unexpected when the two opened the door.

"Well… I have to admit that she sure is dedicated to her hobby…"

"That's for sure…" The two looked at the floor in front of their room and saw Hiyori sleeping there while tightly hugging her sketchbook. "Good morning, Hiyori…" Konata lightly kicked her arm and then greeted the girl before carefully walking around her.

"… Morni- GUH!" She wasn't able to finish her greeting because Kagami wasn't as friendly as Konata. She mercilessly stepped on Hiyori and then continued to walk towards the kitchen without even looking back. Konata shortly scratched her head, but then decided to follow Kagami. "S-So violent… She really is bad with mornings when sleeping with Konata…" She was completely wrong, but being positive is always a nice thing. "Well, it was totally worth it, though…" She looked at her sketchbook with a smile and got up again. While dusting herself off, she went back to her room to get ready as well. After all, she slept in her pajamas on the floor of the hallway last night.

Konata and Kagami arrived in the kitchen in the meanwhile and noticed that they weren't the first ones there.

"Oh, good morning, you two. Perfect timing, do you want some coffee as well?" Miyuki was already in the kitchen and had just finished brewing a pot of coffee.

"Sounds good, I'll take some."

"Sure, why not…" Kagami and Konata each got a cup from Miyuki and the three had some Smalltalk.

"So, you two like coffee as well? It's good to know that I'm not the only one…"

"It's quite nice once in a while, but I think I still prefer tea overall…" Kagami didn't dislike it, but liking isn't exactly right either. "You're talking about Tsukasa, right? You seriously didn't expect Tsukasa to like coffee, right…?"

"I'm not exactly sure why I ask her back then either actually…" It's physically impossible for Tsukasa to like something usually bitter like coffee.

"I'm not really a big fan of coffee either, but that stuff sure works and so, it's actually not that bad. And, by making it really unhealthy with sugar and stuff, its taste actually okay as well." Konata judged the effectiveness of coffee, and that definitely got a passing grade.

"Is that so? Well, that's something, I guess…"

"Okay then, let's get to something more meaningful for now~." Konata had already enough of the Smalltalk. "How did it feel to tell someone about your relationship with Tsukasa?"

"There was no way you two weren't listening in yesterday after all…"

"Yep, absolutely…"

"… No way…"

"… At all." The two finished the last part together. Their level of synchronization had already surpassed that of those creepy movie twins.

"Why did I even ask…" Miyuki sighed as she started to question herself after she remembered who she was talking to.

"And, how was it" Kagami was also interested in it.

"Honestly… It feels like a huge burden was lifted from my shoulders… I mainly did it for Tsukasa-san, but it was the right thing to do because I hadn't even realized how much it bothered me as well… Thank you for telling Tsukasa-san that it could end up in a problem if we keep everything hidden, Konata-san."

"Hehe. Well, I just couldn't watch you two anymore."

"Do you plan on telling more people, Miyuki?"

"No… It already took me all my courage just to tell Minami-san, and I only was able to because I know her for so long and can trust her completely. She has a special place in my heart, but telling others… or even my family… I'm not ready for that… Also, I think now that we're able to be more open about it around Minami-san, our situation should become a lot more comfortable." Miyuki was sure that the slight change should make their lives a lot easier already.

"Yeah, I guess that's enough for now. But, feel free to ask us for advice anytime." The couple respected their decision because it already was a step in the right direction and only offered advice when needed.

"I will, thank you very much, you two."

…..

With the topic being over, Konata and Kagami decided to start preparing breakfast for everyone, and the others showed up one after another as well after a while. The group ate together, and while chatting about the last couple days, Tsukasa was still missing her Tanuki friends, a lot of time passed. The girls decided to go to their rooms once they finished chatting because it wasn't long until they had to leave and everyone had yet to pack their stuff.

Half an hour passed and Konata and Kagami were still in her room while getting ready to leave when the door suddenly flew open and Hiyori stormed into the room.

"I finally have it!"

"How about knocking first?" Kagami completely ignored her exclamation. "Who knows what we could be doing. Good thing we were just packing."

"Damnit…" Hiyori's inner voice leaked out. "Anyway, I've got it!"

"Good for you… Got what?"

"I finally thought of a question I want to ask you!" She had already surpassed the condition of being excited.

"Ah, right… I hoped you had forgotten about it…"

"There's absolutely no way that would've happened, Kagami-senpai!"

"Well… Although I really don't want because I'm a little concerned after looking at you… I promised it to you after all…" Kagami had a bad feeling about how excited Hiyori was about her question.

"Soo… Because I'm feeling rather confident, I'm willing to take a risk~."

"Wow, I'm so happy that you're the one who promised her, Kagamin~." Konata was relieved that she wasn't the one who made such a bad mistake.

"Shut up, I'm reflecting on it already…"

"Okay~… Since I'm fairly sure by now that I don't have to ask if you've done it already…"

"Oh boy…" Kagami was regretting her decision so bad at the moment.

"Were there ever some… _toys_ involved?" Hiyori asked her question, and the couple stopped moving while they looked with big eyes at her.

"W-Wha-…" Kagami surely wasn't expecting that and looked at Konata for help, but it was utterly useless. Konata had already her head turned away and was unable to face either of them because she was always weak to that kind of pressure. Kagami realized she was alone in this battle, but she couldn't answer either. With a blush on her cheeks, she followed Konata's example and also looked away in embarrassment. A few moments passed, but the couple was still unable to face her.

"Oh… my… g- *thud*" With a wet sounding thud noise, Hiyori had fainted for the third time on this trip and landed on the floor in a puddle of her own blood that came from her nose. The couple may didn't answer her question with words, but the reaction of the two was still enough for her. Hiyori had high hopes for her question, but she couldn't handle it in the end. A minute passed, and Kagami finally said something again.

"T-That girl…" Her voice was a mix of embarrassment and anger. "It looks like I have to discipline a little more…"

"A-A very good idea…" Konata easily agreed with her.

"And thanks for the help, Kona."

"Yeah, sure, like I could've done anything that would've helped in this situation…"

"Now that you say it, you're not wrong…"

"And now…?" Konata looked at the unconscious girl on the floor in the middle of their room.

"Leave her, we still have some more packing to do."

"Okay…" Because Konata wasn't as heartless, she quickly wiped the blood away from Hiyori's nose with a tissue, but then followed Kagami's lead and ignored her as well while continuing to pack her stuff as if nothing ever happened.

….

Once Hiyori had recovered, everyone had finished packing and got ready to leave the cabin. Taking a last look at the area while Tsukasa was energetically waving after her Tanuki friends that were wherever, the group began walking through the forest on the same trail they came a couple days ago. While feeling somewhat sad about leaving and being tired, their travel back to civilization happened faster than they realized and the girls were already back home. Three of them had just entered Konata's house and got greeted by her father, Sojiro.

"Ah, my daughters are finally back home!" He energetically welcomed Konata, Yutaka, and Kagami at the door. No one even said something when Kagami came with them like it was the most normal thing in the world because they were expecting it anyway. "Yutaka-chan as well, I missed you."

"I'm not sure how I should feel about your wording, Sojiro."

"Unless you stop coming over basically every day, I won't stop counting you as a daughter."

"It can't be helped then." There was no way that it's going to change after all. She completely ignored the part where Yutaka got an extra mention, though. It was simply too bothersome.

"How was it?"

"Pretty fun, although somewhat tiring as well…"

"What happened?"

"Kagamin~ went full sadist on Hiyorin, and then we told her about us. Thanks to that, the backlash from her was a little much to handle."

"Oh, I see… Sounds like fun, though." He looked at Kagami with a smile, but she only looked away for multiple reasons.

"Well, we'll tell you more later, dad. Let's go to our room for now, Kagamin~."

"Sure." The couple left and entered Konata's room.

Arriving in the room, the couple threw their belongings in a corner and threw themselves on their most loved places, Konata's bed. Being welcomed by the comfortable fluffiness, both let out a comfortable sigh.

"Haa… How I missed my bed…"

"Absolutely~…" The couple let out another sighed and did nothing than simply lying there for about five minutes.

"Well then, good night, Kagamin~…" Konata didn't feel like standing up anymore.

"Shut up… *yawn*… Kona… It's the middle… of the day…" Kagami tried to be reasonable, but she wasn't very convincing, especially with her yawn in the middle. Because she wasn't able to stop Konata and she wasn't any different, a couple hours were suddenly gone.

"Good morning, sleepyhead~." Konata woke up again when it started to get dark outside and tried to wake up Kagami. As usual, this was easier said than done.

"Mmmnn~…" Kagami had no intention to wake up and only squeezed Konata to stop her from moving because she was obviously hugging her again.

"Fine…" Konata knew the game already and let Kagami one-sidedly cuddle her for the next 15 minutes until she had enough.

"Morning…" She finally let go of her and woke up… "Wait, it's still dark, why did you wake me up?"

"It just got dark, Kagamin~… It's evening…"

"Ehh…? How did that happen?" It looked like she had forgotten about it.

"Remember when we came home from our trip with the other and relaxed a little on my bed? Well… that's what happened…" It was inevitable after all.

"I see… That does indeed sound like us…" It's not the first time that happened.

"Ehehe~. So, what do we do now…? I mean, we just woke up and it's evening…"

"Hmm… Oh, there's something I yet have to tell you, Kona."

"I really don't like the sound of that…" She had a bad feeling about the announcement.

"Yeah, it's going to ruin your mood for sure."

"Then, how about not telling me?"

"Sorry…" For some reason, even though she said it, Kagami didn't look very sorry.

"What is it…?"

"Starting tomorrow, we're starting our college study arc."

"What?! No! Nonono! You said we're starting with that after the summer break!"

"Yeah, but we, that means you, need more time for that."

"Nonono! I hate training arcs in anime!"

"That comparison of mine didn't work, huh?" Kagami thought it made it a little easier for Konata, but it didn't have the desired effect.

"Can't we skip that arc?"

"Sure, if you can tell me how, Kona."

"Damnit… I still haven't decided on a college, though…"

"Don't worry, we'll get behind that as well." Kagami was really determined right now.

"G-Great… But, I promised Kuroi-sensei to play a lot with her in our online game this holiday…"

"Nope~." Every single escape route was blocked.

"Aww… You're so cruel, Kagamin~…"

"I know, but you'll thank me one day."

"I'm not so sure about that…"

"You'll see."

"W-What about today…? We can do something else today, r-right?"

"Yeah, Kona, we're starting tomorrow. Also, it's not like we're going to do nothing but studying until our entrance exams… We'll take proper brakes that even going to last a couple days, you know?" Kagami tried to make this whole studying thing as comfortable for Konata as possible, while still getting things done.

"R-Really…?" Konata sounded a little relieved.

"Really."

"Then… I got this new game, you know… How about we play it today…?"

"Sure, I'm in. Because we just got up, I don't think I'll sleep at all this night. Let's play all night long, Kona!" Kagami tried to make her as happy as possible so she can less complain less once the actual studying start.

"Oh, if we're going to stay up all night long anyway, how about…"

"Let's _start_ with the game, Kona~."

"Yes!" Being successfully distracted from the studying, Konata was in a good mood, and the two started playing her new game after she turned on the TV and the console.

The couple was busy for almost the entire night and fell asleep about an hour after Yutaka wished them a good morning when she stood up. After having somewhat ruined their sleep pattern, Konata and Kagami woke up a little after noon again and that was also the beginning of Konata's walk through hell because Kagami was extremely motivated with her studying. Even though summer break's supposed to be a rest from everything and recovery from fatigue, Konata looked more exhausted than ever.

Just like that, their trip, and basically the rest of their summer-break passed in the blink of an eye.

* * *

.

This time's reference, the whole cabbage, was a reference to K-On.

.

Well… That got slightly long… Almost 30k long…

I think this chapter had (even) more mistakes than usual, but because it's so long, I had a really hard time finding grave errors because my concentration always slipped away... If you find something important, please feel free to tell me, especially if you think I mixed up a name... I found a couple of those, but not sure if all...

The original plan was to make it about 7-10k words, but that didn't work that well. That's also the reason why it took so long. I planned to finish the concept directly after I posted the last chapter because I was on a trip almost the entire August, but I didn't feel like doing it… Once I came back at the end of August, I was on a roll. Half of the concept (noted a couple things on the plane flights) and the entire monster of a chapter here happened in about three and a half weeks… The Jetlag almost killed me because we literally flew around the world, but quietly being able to write at the oddest times because my biological clock was quite relaxing and I made progress like nothing else. It was a good thing taking two more weeks off from work after coming back home. Such a trip around the world is quite tiring, but it was totally worth it… We even visited Tokyo, but I wasn't allowed to visit the Lucky Star shrine in Washinomiya because it would've killed at least half a day and shopping was apparently more important(Because the trip itself wasn't expensive enough already... I don't even want to think about it...). We spent almost an entire day in Akihabara, though, so I guess there's that… (Was still more than awsome, though)

Anyway, back to topic…

I feel just a little sorry for Hiyori, she went through a lot in those days, but I think she had a happy end and her revenge in the form of her mangas will be quite thorough, I suppose… Kagami sure is scary, though. Also, Yutaka's innocence has to be questioned a little more.

I'm not sure if I overdid it with Kagami a little, but I had fun with writing her that way, and I love the personality she grew into. Konata influenced her a lot, but she completely surpassed her on the way. Summarizing it, I'm not regretting anything, I won't reflect on it, and I'll surely continue like that. Konata also likes her like that, and so everything's fine~.

Like hinted at the end, the story will now slowly start to advance towards them entering college. I have a few stories ready, including a few surprises, but I need some filler stuff, so we'll see what's going to happen on the road.

Also, I'm thinking about adding Patty now because it would make somewhat sense because she theoretically finished her school year in the USA in summer and is now transferring or something like that. Still not sure about it, though.

Next chapter: Whenever, I guess… I'm fairly busy the next two weeks, but it should be ready in October. Konata's probably going to suffer a lot, thanks to Kagami's study sessions.


	41. College plans

A couple weeks since their trip into the forest had already passed and summer break was over as well by now, meaning school had started again. As Kagami had said, the remaining summer break wasn't much fun for Konata because she made her study almost every day. Half of the first school day after the break was over already and the group was currently enjoying their lunch break when Kuroi-sensei suddenly joined them because she had something to complain about.

"Oi, Izumi! What happened during summer break!? I thought we're going to have a couple all-nighters for a change again?"

"Ah, sorry about that, sensei… I was too busy studying that I barely used my PC at all…"

"Ahaha… That was a good one. Seriously though, what stopped you from playing?"

"Like I said, I was studying the entire time… Mainly for college entrance exams and stuff…"

"R-Really?" Kuroi-sensei looked beyond shocked.

"Really!"

"S-Seriously…?" There was no way she could believe it after all.

"It's true, sensei, we studied the entire time together." The reason for Konata's studying spree, Kagami, confirmed her claim.

"Uhh… good job, Hiiragi…" It was obvious to her that Kagami made Konata study.

"So, if you want to complain, do it to Kagamin~."

"Oi! Well… You're not wrong…" Kagami complained too fast before thinking.

"No… It's not really a bad thing after all…" Kuroi-sensei was feeling conflicted because she couldn't play with Konata, but, as a teacher, she really couldn't complain about it.

"No, feel free to complain, sensei… The only fun I had during the summer break was our trip with the first years…" Konata wasn't happy at all on how her summer break was this year.

"Don't be like that, Izumi. You should be grateful to Hiiragi. It'll help you a lot in the future."

"Sensei, which side are you on?!"

"Hiiragi's, of course… _speaking as a teacher, that is_ …" The last part was only mumbled.

"Haa…" Konata sighed because no one was her ally.

"More importantly…" Kuroi completely ignored the sighing girl. "On what trip did you all go?"

"Minami, one of our first years, is even richer than Miyuki and invited all of us to her forest cabin near a lake and we spent a couple days there."

"Ehh… How nice…" Kuroi-sensei was a little envious and got even more jealous once she heard a couple details of the trip.

"It was really great, sensei~." Konata wanted to tease her a little as payback for earlier, but Kuroi-sensei isn't the best target to tease.

"Ah, I almost forgot… Izumi, come see me in the faculty office after school. There's something I need to talk about with you.

"Eh?! B-But I didn't do anything! I even did all my homework over summer break!"

"It's about your career sheet…"

"Ahh…" Konata instantly fell silent for some reason.

"Hiiragi, you can accompany her if you want."

"Huh… uh… okay? Wait, why?!" Kagami had no idea why she was included all of a sudden, but she didn't get any answers from Kuroi-sensei because she used the moment to silently leave at the same time. "Kona! Just what did you write on your career sheet?!"

"I-I have absolutely no idea… I-I just wrote to enter college…" She was clearly nervous for some unknown reason. "M-Maybe she just wants to know which college exactly because I don't know yet…"

"I see… So, why does she want to see me as well, Kona?" It was extremely easy for Kagami to see that Konata was hiding something.

"W-Well…" She had no idea what to answer, but the bell luckily saved her that rang in the same moment. "A-Ah, lunch break is over… Don't you have to head back to your classroom, Kagamin~?" Konata already thought she had won, but her plan had a huge flaw.

"Kona, you know that'll find it out after school anyway, right?" With that, Kagami let her be for the time being ad headed back to her own classroom.

"Ah!" She _did_ forget about that part.

…

School safely ended, and Konata, together with Kagami arrived at the faculty office to talk with Kuroi-sensei about Konata's career sheet.

"Ah, you actually came." Kuroi-sensei spotted the couple at the door, and the two entered. "Izumi, I read your career sheet… I was very happy to read that you're actually entering college, you know?"

"Thank you very much, sensei. Well then, let's go home, Kagamin~." Konata wanted to leave as soon as possible again.

"But…" Kuroi- sensei stopped her, though, and grabbed her career sheet. "First choice; ' _Kagami decided that I'm going to college._ ' Second choice; ' _There's no second choice. I had no saying in that after all._ ' Third choice; ' _See two. It's Kagami we're talking about here._ '" While Kuroi-sensei was reading Konata's career _choices_ , Kagami started looking at Konata with cold eyes.

"W-Why are you looking at me like that, Kagamin~? I didn't lie, did I?"

"That's not the problem here, Kona…"

"Ahaha…" A dry laugh escaped Konata's lips.

"Well, whatever…" Kuroi-sensei interrupted the two. "It's a good thing in the end. Hiiragi, you did very well in… _guiding_ her."

"Thank you very much, sensei." Kagami seemed rather proud of herself.

"And, which college did _you_ decide on, Izumi?" She asked Konata, but was looking at Kagami the entire time.

" _We_ haven't decided on that yet..."

"I see… Well, it's good enough that she agreed on going to college in the first place for now."

"I agree with that, sensei. It also was hard work to get just there…"

"What are you, Kagamin~, my mother?!" Konata couldn't keep up with the situation anymore.

"No, I'm not, and that would be _very_ weird if I were…"

"Yeah, that's true…"

"Well, keep up the good work, Hiiragi. You're having a good influence on her. Izumi's grades also got a lot better over the last year."

"Thanks, and I will!"

"That's good to hear."

"Ehm…" Konata felt a little left out. "D-Do I have no saying in that?"

"Nope." She got two answers at the same time.

"I figured as much…" Konata sighed in defeat. "B-But sensei, don't encourage her even more! Kagamin~'s already doing more than enough." She started complaining anyway, but no one was listening to her.

"Oh, Kona, you have no idea… We're only getting warm, you know? Look forward to December till February right before the entrance exams… Right now is nothing compared to what is to come."

"S-Seriously…?" Konata turned a little pale.

"Seriously." Kagami and Kuroi-sensei answered at the same time again.

"Haa…" The remaining color left Konata as well.

"Anyway… You two can go now."

"Thank you very much, sensei~." Kagami was in a good mood, and the couple finally went home together. Konata needed a couple hours to recover to full health again, though.

…..

While Konata was recovering from the experience she had with Kuroi-sensei at home together with Kagami, Miyuki and Tsukasa were doing their homework at Miyuki's place. Just like Konata had improved greatly under the regime of Kagami, Tsukasa also made some considerable progress, but because Miyuki is a lot less forceful and because Tsukasa's a natural klutz, she still needs a lot of help with her homework. While she was doing her best, she and Miyuki started chatting a bit. Thanks to the scene they witnessed during the lunch break in school, the topic naturally ended up being about their career sheets as well.

"I really wonder what Kona-chan wrote on her career sheet that Kuroi-sensei ordered her to see her after school…"

"Oh, I wonder about that as well. I was under the impression that Konata-san's going to college as well…"

"Yes… Well, it's Kona-chan we're talking about here. She probably just wrote something funny on it, instead of doing it seriously."

"You're right, that might be very well the case."

"Yuki-chan, you wrote colleges as all of your three choices, right?"

"Yes, starting with the one here in Tokyo as my first choice, I wrote down colleges where I can study medicine. You decided as well, didn't you, Tsukasa-san?"

"Yes, I decided to go to a cooking school as my first choice. I think that suits me the best and its pretty easy grade wise… After that, I wrote down a college with a dedicated cooking course, and a local one at last, but just for the sake of having written down three choices…"

"It sounds like you, Tsukasa-san. A cooking school really does suit you. You like cooking, especially baking after all."

"Ehehe~. Also, the school is really close to your place here, Yuki-chan. So, even though we're going to different places to study, it's still really easy to see each other~." It wasn't exactly a decisive factor for Tsukasa, but it was still a huge bonus point.

"This really is nice." Miyuki, as well, had nothing against that point. "Now that we're talking about it… What are Kagami-san and Konata-san are going to do?"

"That's a good question… Onee-chan's set on going to a college in Yokohama and Kona-chan… Uhm, probably a local one?" Tsukasa wasn't sure about Konata's plans. "Wait a moment! Kona-chan and onee-chan dived by a whole prefecture?!"

"Two prefectures actually, Tsukasa-san…"

"That's even worse! How's that going to work?! Onee-chan's mood already worsens if they're not in the same building for more than a day…"

"It's going to be quite the challenge for the two, is it not? Well, I'm sure they'll learn to be able to live with it, though."

"Y-Y-Yuki-chan! I recently watched a TV show where they said that certain animals will die due to loneliness if they're separated! T-That won't happen to onee-chan and Kona-chan, right?!" Tsukasa started panicking for a fairly weird reason.

"C-Calm down, Tsukasa-san. Something like that doesn't happen with humans."

"Even when we're talking about Kona-chan and onee-chan here…?" Tsukasa wasn't convinced.

"Uh…" Miyuki needed a second to answer. "E-Even then! Moreover, they can easily see each other on the weekends and can even meet up somewhere in the middle on weekdays. It's not that far after all…"

"You're probably right, Yuki-chan… Anyway…" Tsukasa decided to change the topic. "Speaking of the cooking school earlier… I learned a new recipe recently. Want to try it together?"

"Sounds nice, I'll help." Striking the iron while it's hot, the two directly went to the kitchen together.

…

A couple days passed and the weekend quickly arrived. While the third years continued to be busy studying, the first years decided to meet up at Minami's place. Yutaka and Hiyori arrived at the same time and entered the house together after Minami had opened the door for them. The girls walked a few steps through the hallway when Minami's dog, Cherry, showed up.

"Ah, it's Cherry-chan~!" Yutaka walked towards the dog and wanted to pet him as usual, but Cherry didn't seem interested in her.

"Oh-oh…" Hiyori had a bad feeling about how Cherry was looking at her instead. "N-No, you really don't have to… Be a good boy and stay where you are…"

"Woof!" Cherry wasn't listening at all and used the chance to jump straight at Hiyori.

"Ahh!" The two crashed on the floor together, and Cherry literally sat down on top of her.

"Woof!" He looked pretty smug for some reason.

"C-Cherry! You can't do that!" Minami tried to pull him off from Hiyori, but it almost took a whole minute and two paw-hits to Hiyori's face before he moved again.

"Haa…" Hiyori let out a relieved sigh once she was free again.

"I-I'm very sorry!" While Minami was apologizing, Yutaka was finally able to play with Cherry.

"Such a good boy~." She was energetically rubbing Cherry's belly as he threw himself on his back on the floor while wagging his tail.

"Woof~." He also sounded pretty happy.

"What's up with that huge difference in our treatment?!" Hiyori didn't understand Cherry at all.

"Well then… Let's go to your room to play, Minami-chan." Yutaka finished playing with Cherry, and the group went to Minami's room. Once they sat down there, Hiyori immediately slumped down and rested her head on the table.

"What's wrong, Hiyori-chan? You look really tired."

"Ahh… Well, I barely slept since our trip during summer break after all…"

"Eh? Why? Did something happen?"

"It's all Konata-senpai and Kagami-senpai's fault…"

"Huh? What did they do?"

"They didn't do anything… I just have so many ideas for my mangas thanks to them ever since our trip, that I simply have no time to sleep anymore..."

"I-I see…" Yutaka wasn't sure what to answer.

"Speaking of which, what are those two up to lately, Yutaka? We meet up here at Minami's place most of the time, and so I haven't seen them in a while…"

"Not that much, actually… Konata-oneechan and Kagami-senpai are mostly studying for their entrance exams after all and when they're taking a break, the two usually just play a little on the console together…"

"Eh…" That wasn't what Hiyori had hoped for, and because her tension was broken due to the boring answer of Yutaka, she finally lost the fight against her drowsiness, and her head hit the table again. She fell asleep in a matter of seconds, and while she slumped down, Hiyori accidentally knocked over the bag she brought with her, and a huge amount of her newest mangas inspired by Konata and Kagami slipped out of it.

"Oh, that one looks interesting." Yutaka grabbed one of the mangas that spilled out and started reading it. Because Yutaka looked rather fascinated by the contents, Minami became curious as well and joined her after a short while, and the two read the mangas together.

About an hour passed and Hiyori was finally able to keep her eyes open again, but the scene in front of her immediately after waking up was a little too much for her, and she had a hard with keeping up with the situation. The entire table was littered with her newest yuri mangas, but that wasn't the biggest problem for her. When she looked up, she saw Yutaka and Minami intently reading one of them with great interest while talking about what they're seeing with some words Hiyori wasn't able to process coming out of the mouth from Yutaka. That wasn't the end, though, the two flipped the page, and it looked like they were looking at a double page now. Completely immersed in it, Yutaka tilted the manga first, and then the two tilted their heads as well in multiple directions in order to follow the scene they were looking at right now.

"Au…" Hiyori let out a miserable voice because she was so embarrassed and hit her head against the table to hide her beet red face. If possible, she wanted to disappear from this planet. Minami and Yutaka weren't paying attention to her at all, though.

"Heh~, that one was really good." A little over ten minutes later, the two finished reading the manga and placed it on the table as well.

"It really was." Minami agreed with Yutaka's claim.

"Sooo… The next one would be… Oh, Hiyori-chan, you woke up already?" Yutaka was about to grab the next manga when she noticed the squirming girl at the other side of the table.

"I wish I didn't, but I unfortunately am…" Hiyori wished for eternal sleep right now. "What are you two even doing?"

"Reading your mangas, why?" She was looking totally innocent.

"I-I see that… but why?"

"They spilled out of your bag earlier when you fell asleep, and they looked interesting, so…"

"Au…" Hiyori got even more embarrassed because it was basically her own fault.

"You don't have to be embarrassed, Hiyori-chan, they're really good! I enjoyed reading every single one of them."

"Yes, they were good." Minami agreed with a couple nods.

"I-Is that so…?" Hiyori was still incredibly embarrassed, but she couldn't help feeling a little happy by getting praised.

"Although, I like the ones with the word _'safe'_ on the cover a little more, you know? They are way cuter and fluffier if you ask me."

"Me as well."

"T-That's good to hear…" Hiyori was somewhat relieved that she hasn't accidentally and completely destroyed their innocence. Yet, at least, judging by their deep interest in the matter, it's only a matter of time.

"I'm not sure about the _other_ ones, but the cute and fluffy mangas are exactly like Konata-oneechan and Kagami-senpai are at home."

"Heh~? I can't let that slide… Yutaka, I demand details on that!" Hiyori became interested, and the last bit of her drowsiness was gone in an instant.

"Hmm… For example, Kagami-senpai has a very effective way to motivate Konata-oneechan to keep studying… The two decide on a couple goals, and whenever Konata-oneechan reaches one, she receives a kiss as a reward from Kagami-senpai for example."

"R-Really…?" Hiyori wasn't expecting such a sweet and innocent story from _those_ senpais. Then again, that was the only bribe of Kagami that Yutaka had witnessed.

"They also are cuddling all the time… Whether the two are playing a game, watching a movie, or simply killing time while doing nothing, they're always cuddling with each other. The two also cook together for all of us as well while Konata-oneechan often teaches Kagami-senpai new things because she's a little clumsy in the kitchen. Both always bicker over really silly things, but I never saw them having an actual fight. They cuddle all the time and really love to tease each other, where Kagami-senpai definitely is better at, and the two, of course, love to cuddle." It was no accident that Yutaka mentioned cuddling more than once.

"O-Okay, that's enough for now, Yutaka… Thank you very much for the meal, it was very sweet and delicious…" Hiyori had to stop her because she was about to vomit sugar from all that sweetness she was listening to. "Haa… I love my live~." She seemed really happy, though. "It kind of wants me to write a couple more _safe_ mangas right now, actually…"

"Oh, I'm looking forward to it, Hiyori-chan."

"Yes." It already seemed to be set in stone that Yutaka and Minami are going to read Hiyori's next works whether she wants or not.

"S-Sure…" Hiyori had officially given up on hiding her mangas from the two because it didn't seem to be working anyways.

"Yay~!" While the topic was finally being done, the group chatted some more about entirely different things and the time quickly passed.

….

While the first years were having fun at Minami's place, Konata's room had a way less relaxing feeling to it. Thanks to Kagami's harsh study plan, tons of study book and reference materials were scattered all over the room. Konata looked around her room and let out a strained sigh.

"Haa… doesn't this room slowly starts to look like it would belong to a diligent student…?"

"Working as intended~." Kagami looked satisfied with herself.

"Eh? What was that? I think I heard something very unsettling just now…"

"Just your imagination, Kona, just your imagination~." She played it off as nothing. "Come on, let's start studying already."

"Ehh… Even more…?" Konata obviously wasn't happy at all about that.

"Be a good girl and do your best. Once we're done, we can do whatever you want." Kagami's attempt to bribe her, including her seductive smirk at the end, seemed to be rather effective.

"Okay, let's get going!" Konata got fired up and was eager to start. "So, what's today's topic?"

"I'm still rather weak with everything related to economics, so I want to improve some more there…"

"Okay, I'll do the same then. The whole studying thing is your idea anyway, and I'm just doing it for you in the first place, so I might as well study the same thing for the time being…"

"Sure, I won't stop you."

Having decided on a topic to study for today, the two started doing their best. Konata was diligently studying for about an hour, but she was having a hard time keeping her concentration up.

"Haaa…" Konata let out a tired sigh and actually fell asleep a couple moments later.

"Oi!" Kagami wasn't happy with her behavior and directly woke her up again, with a chop on the head, that is. "I told you to take the studying seriously, didn't I?"

"I-It's not like you think, Kagamin~. It didn't happen because I was bored or anything like that." She tried to defend herself.

"Then, why did you fall asleep?"

"Well… It was just so relaxing that I simply got sleepy…"

"Studying for economics… relaxing…? No, that's simply not possible, Kona…" Kagami didn't believe her, especially because economics is everything except relaxing for herself.

"It's true, though… Economics is so easy that it's a relaxing change of pace from all the other studying, you know?" Konata was really serious about her claim.

"Really now?" Kagami still doubted her. "If that's true, you don't mind if I test you a little bit, right?"

"Sure, I don't mind at all. Come at me." She confidently accepted the challenge.

"Okay… First,…" Kagami looked at a random question in her textbook and asked Konata about it. Surprisingly enough for her, the correct answer came instantly. It went on like that for almost 20 minutes and dozens of questions until Kagami finally gave up and accepted her complete defeat.

"What now? Is that everything you got already?" After Konata had magnificently passed the test with ease, she was looking rather smug.

"W-What's up with that…?" Kagami was speechless, and not to mention, jealous because she even had to look up some answers she got from Konata because she had no idea what the right answer actually was when asking the question.

"I'm awesome, aren't I~?"

"You sure are… In a very weird way…" She wasn't sure how she should feel about it. "It seems you're not only good at marketing, huh? You're good at economics as a whole, aren't you?"

"Sure seems like it. I wonder why…"

"Not only you, Kona… Not only you…" She still had a somewhat hard time with acknowledging her talent. Not exactly because she doesn't want Konata to be good at it, but rather because she doesn't get why. Marketing isn't supposed to be that easy after all.

"Ohh! I just had the most genius idea ever!" Konata suddenly became excited. "I'm just going to major economics in college and scratch studying all those other subjects to focus entirely on it."

"Sorry to burst your bubble, Kona, but you still need really decent grades everywhere else as well, especially because an economics major is a really complex and challenging course, you know?"

"Ehh… That's too bad…" Her excitement didn't last overly long.

"It's still a really good idea, though. Economics is a really broad thing to study, and it's going to be extremely useful in your future career. It's a fairly prestigious study path, and you can basically work in every bigger company with a major in it. Not to mention when you venture further into it by getting more titles once you have the basics."

"You sure know a lot about that, huh?"

"Truth to be told, when we found out about your talent for marketing, I looked it up a little, and because marketing is a part of economics, a major in that is even more versatile."

"You're such a sweet girl, Kagamin~." Konata was a little moved by her caring side.

"S-Shut up…" The sudden compliment made her embarrassed. "I only did it because I taught that this is the easiest way to talk you into college."

"I see~." Konata was smiling from ear to ear because Kagami's tsundere side made a rare, although short comeback. "Well, you're right, though… Economics itself is fairly easy and quite fun in my eyes. You know, I think I'll really go with studying economics." Konata decided about her career path on a whim, but the choice was perfectly reasonable and perfectly fitting for her skills.

"Really? That's great!" Kagami was really happy about Konata's decision as well. "I'm proud of you, Kona. I really think that's the right choice for you… Still, I'm somewhat annoyed that you're having such an easy time with economics when it's the only subject I'm bad at…"

"Well… Look at it that way, economics is the _only_ thing I'm good at, so it's not really that unfair if you ask me…"

"Oi! You can at least pretend to disagree here…"

"Ah, sorry… That being said, you did improve a lot, _thanks to me,_ in basically every subject and I don't think you're actually bad anywhere anymore…"

"What a shameless self-praising that was mixed in there…"

"Ehehe~." She seemed happy nonetheless. "By the way…"

"Hmm?"

"Can you help me a little with economics? There are still a few things I don't get at all…"

"Can't be helped, huh? Sure, Konata-sensei will teach you~." She adjusted her fake air-glasses while trying to play teacher and went to Kagami's side of the table.

"What's with that sense of defeat and humiliation I'm feeling right now…"

Kagami continued to study economics for another hour with the help of Konata teaching her the things she didn't understand until she was finally satisfied with the results. Once she was done with it as well, the two went to the living room together where Sojiro was because they had some sort of news after all.

"Sojiro, I finally made it!" Kagami proudly entered the room.

"You made what now?" He had no idea what was going on.

"Tell him the news, Kona."

"Hmm…? Ah, okay… Dad, I decided that I'm going to study marketing when I'm going to college."

"…" Sojiro needed a moment. "H-How…?" He directed the question at Kagami.

"I'm good, that's how." Someone was satisfied with herself.

"You sure are… That's amazing…" Sojiro couldn't believe that Kagami managed to talk Konata into going to college before, but choosing a major made him even more speechless.

"You two sure do like to exaggerate…"

"No, we really not…" Konata's complaint was easily refuted.

"Yeah, I didn't believe myself either when I said that just now…"

"Anyway…" Sojiro came back to the topic. "That's great, Konata, I'm really happy that you finally found something you want to do in the future."

The couple stayed with Sojiro in the living room a little longer because he wanted to know some details on why and how Konata choose to study marketing and other things and celebrate it a little. A little time passed, and the two were about to wrap it up.

"Okay, how about we go back to my room for now, Kagamin~? I want to stop talking about studying and college already and do something fun." Konata grabbed her hand and wanted to drag her out of the room because she was becoming impatient.

"Ah, Kagami, can you wait a little bit? I finished another chapter of my novel and wanted to hear your opinion on what needs some changes and what is good to go."

"Sure."

"Ahh!" Konata wasn't happy about that. She still let go of Kagami, though, and went to her room alone first. "Don't take too long, Kagamin~."

"Okay~." She waved after Konata who was already on the stairs. "Ah, I almost forgot already, there's something I wanted to talk about with you as well, Sojiro… Regarding college and things…"

"Hmm? Sure, I'll listen." Sojiro wasn't sure what she wanted to talk about, but it seemed rather important if she asks for his advice on something. Konata had already reached her room and so hadn't overheard a thing of their conversation.

…

A couple weeks have passed since Konata's decision on her future study path, and Kagami's mysterious conversation with Sojiro about college passed, and it already became the middle of October. The two were still studying almost daily, but because Kagami had acknowledged their progress during August and September, she decided to lower the intensity a little for the time being, and that made Konata quite happy. Konata was trying to completely focus on economics related things because that's still the only thing she's having fun with, but Kagami, unfortunately, did her best to prevent Konata from completely neglecting the other subjects, keeping it more balanced. A small problem was still there with Konata's decision to study marketing. She had decided on a course, but she still had no idea which college and it didn't look like that would change anytime soon. A simple local one was kind of her first choice because it would greatly support her laziness, but Kagami was still doing her best to get the laziness exorcised out of Konata so that she strives for a bigger challenge. It seemed that there was still a long road ahead, though. Konata and Kagami were studying today as well, but they already did a good chunk and the time where they agreed to stop was near already.

"Okay, with that, I have officially studied enough for today!" Konata solved the last problem in her textbook and immediately threw it into a corner of her room, announcing that study time was over.

"Sure…" Kagami finished her last problem as well and then closed the textbook and neatly placed it on the table. Konata had other plans, though. She placed her arms on the table and instantly pushed everything on it off the table. "Hey, was that really necessary…?" She looked at the pile of study materials next to the table.

"Yes! I waited long enough already, and I can't bear it anymore!" Konata had reached her limit.

"You sure are needy…" She noticed how Konata was all fidgeting and looking with an expectant gaze at her. The two were quite busy with studying all the time, and because of that, certain activities were neglected more than they liked to. In short, Kagami judged that Konata was horny. Being confident with her guess, she leaned over the table and gave Konata a hearty kiss on the lips. Konata immediately returned the kiss and the two made out for a couple minutes before Konata parted from her again.

"Wow… I appreciate your enthusiasm, Kagamin~, but I was talking about something else…"

"Eh…?" While parting from each other, Kagami noticed that Konata was already holding the controller from her console.

"Remember when we stopped playing yesterday? We're only a couple steps away from the last boss, and yet you still made us stop at such an exciting place because it was getting slightly late…"

"T-That's what you were so eager for…?" Kagami felt extremely cheated and disappointed right now. As it turned out, she was the horny one.

"Of course! I could barely sleep because I couldn't stop thinking about the game… Just what were you expecting, Kagamin~?"

"…"

"Come on, tell me~."

"Shut up…" Kagami snatched away the controller Konata was holding and moved to the bed where she sat down with a slightly grumpy look on her face.

"Ehehe~." Konata grabbed the second controller and joined Kagami with a suppressed giggle.

The two played their game together for a while, but they weren't making as much progress as they normally did. Kagami played fairly well in the beginning, but she more and more started to lose her concentration. Having started kissing Konata earlier, made Kagami want to do more, but Konata didn't seem that interested in going further. That being said, Kagami was already turned on, and this didn't seem to change anytime soon. It started to become a problem for Konata because she wanted to finish her game, but it didn't seem like she would be able to do so today. Kagami let go of her controller altogether and moved behind Konata on the bed where she began kissing her neck. It continued relatively tame like that for a couple minutes, but Kagami was merely warming up. Konata was still trying her best to concentrate on the game, but it was becoming increasingly difficult with every passing minute. Difficult was taking it easy, actually, because once Kagami started stripping her as well, it became outright hard. Kagami was so eager that she almost ripped the t-shirt off her body because Konata didn't want to let go of her controller, but once she heard some ripping sounds, she finally put the controller away for a minute to properly get out of her shirt before playing again. Kagami also had more to _play_ with now that Konata's upper body was freed from clothes and she started kissing along her entire back.

She was having a great time, and Konata was breaking as well by now. Her game character on the TV was barely moving anymore, and her concentration had hit rock bottom as well. She managed to hold back another minute, but because Kagami had not the slightest intention of stopping, Konata finally snapped entirely and threw her controller in the next best corner and let Kagami have her way. She turned around and returned her kisses before she stripped away Kagami's shirt as well. Once she saw Kagami in her bra only, it was officially over for Konata, and she went on the attack herself. Kagami wasn't the only one who was enduring certain urges while they were busy studying the last weeks after all. Her priorities were just little messed up as usual. Konata, as well, had quite a lot of pent-up _feelings_ and they came out all at once now.

She pushed Kagami down on the bed, and before her back even reached the sheets, her bra was mysteriously gone as well. Konata showered her entire body with kisses, and somewhere along the way, the two had completely stripped each other of their remaining clothes while drowning in affection and lust for each other. Neither of them wanted to be on the receiving side only, and so both fought for the position on top that seemed to change every couple minutes. Sometimes Kagami was the one on top for a while and attacked the girl below her, but Konata was equally dominant and caressed every inch of Kagami's body when she was on top.

Position change after position change, the two were _busy_ throughout half of the night. While not minding in the slightest about the mess they made in the room with all the scattered around study materials and even less about the _mess_ they created inside the bed because both were too exhausted to care after all the _stress relief_ they had engaged in, Konata and Kagami simply fell asleep in each other's arms with a satisfied expression on their faces.

…..

A new morning arrived, and the first thing the couple did, was taking a shower because both really needed to freshen up, they went together of course. According to the faint sounds that could be heard outside of the bathroom, the two took care of washing each other. It also sounded like both were very seriously, and thoroughly doing their job, and that they had a lot of fun as well. After spending an hour in the bathroom in order to get really _clean_ , the two went back to Konata's room to get properly dressed. Once they were done with that, Konata and Kagami went downstairs to the kitchen and had breakfast together. When they were almost done with eating, Sojiro arrived in the kitchen as well.

"Oh, you two are up already, that's good."

"Good morning, Sojiro." Kagami did a light greeting and was happy that he wasn't grinning like an idiot right now. Whether or not he had noticed something wasn't mentioned because the respect of privacy was one of the few things that were taken seriously in the Izumi house, long before Kagami shoved up, actually. Sojiro made a mistake with violating their privacy once, but Konata made sure that he doesn't do it a second time in a very expensive way after all. Also, Kagami simply didn't want to know what he did or did not hear, because the honest answer she would get, surely wasn't something she wanted to hear.

"What's up, dad?" Konata didn't seem to care at all.

"I have a little request for you, Konata."

"Sure, what is it?"

"I need some space in our _storeroom_. I already relocated a couple of my things, but it's not nearly enough yet…"

"W-What did you buy, dad?"

"Nothing. They made some posters and cardboard-standups for my novel series, and they're going to send me a couple of each. I want them to place them in there then."

"I see… Hmm… Well, it looks like it's finally time to get rid of those magical girl anime figures, huh?" Konata remembered that she still had these nine huge figures stored in there.

"Just throw them away already. It's weird that you still have them in the first place…" Kagami remembered them as well, especially the part where Konata wanted to get rid of them one and a half years ago already.

"What?!" Sojiro and Konata's dismay overlapped, and the two sent a cold gaze at her. "You can't do that!"

"Haa…" Kagami had forgotten who she was talking with for a second.

"Ah, I found a site on the internet where you can sell collectibles a while ago, Konata."

"Oh, that's a good idea, dad. They're probably not going to be worth much because the anime was so trashy, but they maybe find a good owner this way."

"Just make a couple good pictures and write a nice text. You know all those crazy collectors from comiket, right? I'm sure you'll find someone who's going to give you at least as much as you paid for back then." Sojiro gave her a tip to sell them better.

"Yeah, that would be awesome."

"Why are you going to put so much effort into something worthless that no one wants anyway…? Just throw them away and get over with it already!" Kagami seriously didn't get it and was questioning their priorities once more.

"You simply don't get it, Kagamin~."

"You're right, I really don't get it…"

"That's just because you don't have enough love, it's all a question of love!"

"Sure, sure…"

"You have to work on that, Kagamin~."

"No, it's okay. I want to concentrate my limit love on you, Kona~."

"W-Wha-… H-Hey, that's not fair…" Konata didn't expect to get attacked and beaten with her own argument, especially not in such a flashy and effective way.

"And so, I'm totally fine with not having enough love for useless things."

"T-Thanks, I guess…?" Konata felt flattered, but it was also a somewhat difficult feeling as well. "A-Anyway... Dad, you can have the place once I sold them."

"O-Okay…" Sojiro felt incredibly out of place right now and wasn't able to say much more, but he also had an idea for the next chapter of his novel now. All in all, it wasn't that bad.

…..

Another week that was mostly spent with studying passed, and Konata decided to put the nine figures on the internet just as her father suggested. She really wasn't expecting to get much out of it because the show was such a fail and even got canceled midseason, something that basically never happens and so she simply hoped she gets at least someone who's interested at all in the first place. She posted them online with such feelings in mind, but the result was _slightly_ different. Konata was currently on her PC while checking how well the figures were received when Kagami arrived at Konata's place the first time since the figures were online and entered her room.

"Hey, Kona, how is it… Huh?" Kagami cheerfully greeted her, but instantly stopped when she saw her. "What's wrong…?" She was looking at Konata in front of her PC while she was missing all color and stared with a blank look at the screen.

"K-Kagamin~…" Konata seemed extremely shocked by something.

"W-What happened?!" Kagami started to have a bad feeling.

"Otakus are weird…"

"Ehhh…?" Kagami's tension was gone in an instant. "What? I know that much already."

"Nonono, I mean, seriously weird!"

"Like I said… Give me some details, Kona…" She realized that the conversation wasn't progressing.

"Well, you know that I put the figures on sale yesterday, right…?"

"Yeah, and I still don't know why… Is there some problem with them?"

"It seems like the failure anime has a very loyal and eccentric fanbase…"

"What are you talking about?" Kagami didn't understand at all

"You see, as it turns out, they're _slightly_ more valuable than I thought…"

"What do you mean with _slightly_ exactly…?"

"People are literally fighting over them… Their bids are slowly crawling towards a million ¥ right now… I have no idea what's going on anymore…" [7 500€, 8 900$, 6 700£]

"…" Kagami lost the ability to talk and froze, and the only sound that could be heard was when her bag slid off her shoulder and hit the floor while she remained unmoving. "A… A… A m-million?! I-I misheard just now, right? Right?! There's no way someone would give you a million ¥ for those nine figures, Kona…"

"Yep… You misheard, Kagamin~…"

"See?! Stop with those jokes that give me a heart attack, Kona… Jeez…"

"Come here, Kagamin~…" Konata beckoned her to the PC because she wanted to show her something.

"What is it now? If you want to fool me again… then… W-What…?" Kagami walked up to Konata and looked at the screen. She froze again when she saw the contents and then slowly, while lagging like a broken robot, looked at Konata and back at the screen a couple times. "K-Kona…"

"Yes, you really misheard… It's _each_ …" The two were looking at Konata's post to advertise the figures, and it already had a couple hundred entries where people were fiercely fighting for every single figure on their own.

"W-What is going on here…?" Kagami couldn't understand anything anymore.

"Well… apart from the anime having an extremely loyal fanbase, it seems like my figures are, like, ultra-rare or something like that. According to the people on the site, it was believed that those figures are a mere myth until now. Only ten of each were apparently ever made, and mine are the only ones that ever entered the market again, or so they say…"

"No, wait, you're just messing with me, aren't you…?" It was too much for her.

"You should've seen what happened yesterday right after I posted the figures… It was a literal war that I had started there… The site even needed to be shut down for an hour or so because it couldn't handle all the visitors…"

"A-About eight million ¥ and it's still getting higher…" Kagami was still shocked beyond belief.

"Yes…" Konata also had yet to fully process it.

"Otakus are weird…"

"Ah, the conversation made a full circle, Kagamin~."

"Haa…" She inhaled deeply to recover. "And, how much anime, mangas, and games are you going to buy now?" She had to make a joke or less she'll go completely insane.

"Hey, that's a brilliant idea. I hadn't even thought about that. Good job, Kagamin~."

"Shut up, Kona."

"Ehehe~."

"How about you buy something reasonable like…" Kagami tried to talk her out of buying the usual things. "Wait, even better… Safe it. You never know if there's anything you really need in the future or something you absolutely want to do, but need money for it."

"You can be pretty boring from time to time, Kagamin~. Well, you also have a point, and there's also nothing I really want right now…"

"What a good girl." Kagami was happy that she actually listened to her boring suggestion.

"Ah, I just remembered something…"

"What is it now?"

"Remember last week?"

"You need to be more concrete, Kona."

"Someone said something about that I should just throw the figures away because they're just worthless junk no one wants anyway…"

"Oh… my… god…" Kagami froze and turned pale when she thought about it.

"It's a good thing I rarely listen, huh?"

"Wow… I…" She started even shivering at some point.

"It's okay, Kagamin~, absolutely no one could've guessed something like that." Konata tried to cheer her up, but it wasn't working.

"M-Millions thrown away… because of me…"

"Okay, come here…" Konata wrapped her arms around Kagami and tightly hugged her in order to calm her down. "There, any better now?"

"Yes…" As always, this technique never fails to work. "I'm sorry that I wanted to throw them away, Kona."

"Like I said, don't worry about… You weren't wrong after all. Otakus are just weird, and that's why it happened."

"Thank you, idiot." Kagami felt really relieved that Konata wasn't angry.

"Ehehe~."

…

A few more days passed and Konata had finally sold all nine figures. In the end, the figures changed owners for totaling a little over ten million ¥. Konata was really happy and shocked about her unexpected wealth, but Kagami had lost a little more of her faith in humanity in exchange. The only silver lining was that Konata took her suggestion to heart and didn't spend a single ¥ on anime and other related things.

* * *

.

This chapter came a little faster tis time~.

Yes, before you say anything, the figures are maybe worth a little too much. I tried looking up some ultra-rare stuff on Japanese sites, and 500 000 to 700 000 ¥ actually wasn't that uncommon, though… I may, or may not have something planned for it, so simply overlook it.

Kagami sure was lucky Konata didn't listen to her about throwing away the figures, she sure freaked out when she found out about the value.

Konata finally found the thing to study, not that it wasn't totally obvious after the marketing thing a couple chapters back.

By the way, Tsukasa going to a cooking school, Kagami studying law and Miyuki medicine is canon by the manga. Konata studying economics is made up by me. She goes to the same college as Misao, but I don't think it was ever mentioned what she's doing there (If anything at all because it's Konata we're speaking about).

Speaking of the manga, I was finally able to read volume 9 and 10 of it with an English translation of it because they never got an official translation. (I tried reading the Japanese raw before, but my skills were only good enough to loosely get the overall plot. A translation sure is something else.) They had a couple shippable moments, but the constant complaints about the lack of boyfriends was as irritating as always, just like in the last couple volumes. Then again, they don't even make the slightest effort to get one, so it's somewhat tolerable. The best things in the newer volumes are Kagami's new hairstyle and how, despite going to colleges, nothing major changed in the group. Overall, I still like the older volumes better.

Because I had some free time at, hand I also finished some other mangas I had already ordered a while ago and were just collecting dust and more importantly finished watching the animes of the last season. I have to say, wow, Hina Logi sure was great. I was busy shipping Lion and Nina since episode 1, and then ep 11 almost killed me because I wasn't prepared for that… (In a good way, of course) They didn't even care about being subtly anymore and jumped straight to basically canon… (I'm going to ignore everyone who wants to tell me otherwise, so don't even try). This season seems rather weak, but Konohana Kitan is going to be enough for me.

I mentioned Patty in the last chapter, but I decided to wait with her and go the manga route as well there. In the manga, Patty transferred to the school when Yutaka and the others were about to enter their second year. Patty also lives in the Izumi house for the time of her stay in Japan, compared to how she lived on her own in the anime.

Next time… Definitely not before November. I'm not sure what I'm going to focus on then. Either based on the _mysterious_ talk Kagami had with Sojiro offscreen, or I'm going to make a story about the first years as a filler because of Konata and co. are mainly busy with their studies right now. Maybe the chapter will also feature both things, and I'm going to break the 300k word wall then.


	42. Decision

Some time passed since Konata came to her unexpected wealth by selling some incredibly rare figurines that were only collecting dust in her storeroom, but, much to Kagami's pleasure, she hadn't spent anything noteworthy on _unnecessary_ things like manga or anime of it. Actually, she hadn't touched the money at all. November had just begun, and people started to feel what this meant. In other words, it was getting colder with each passing day.

Konata felt like having a change of pace today and decided to visit Kagami's place to spend some time there. Once she had left her house, she quickly started to regret her decision because she remembered that she can't stand the cold at all and wanted to go home again. She had already reached the station, though, when she remembered it, and she had, unfortunately, forgot her phone as usual. Because of that, she couldn't call Kagami to tell her that she had to come over again and had to bear with it. Steeling herself, not that it was that cold in the first place, Konata bravely continued on her way and reached Kagami's house soon enough. Miki let her inside, and Konata immediately started complaining after she got rid of her light coat. It was cold enough for a coat and complaints, but not cold enough for an actual winter jacket, or actual freezing after all.

"Man, it sure has gotten cold all of a sudden… You probably won't see me at all anymore until spring once the temperature falls any more, Miki… I won't be leaving my house anymore then…"

"Mom is really unhappy to hear that, you know? That makes me really sad, Konata." Miki's skill to inflict guilt was unparalleled.

"I-Is that so…?" Unparalleled and effective.

"Absolutely, you come over way too rarely in the first place if you ask me. I thought I would get another cute daughter, but I actually lost one because Kagami's never at home anymore… Mom's a little lonely, you know?"

"…" Konata felt too guilty to answer.

"Not to mention Tsukasa… She's also more often gone than at home… More importantly, she still has formally introduced me to Miyuki. I know the two aren't ready yet, but still… I don't remember raising such rebellious kids…" Nothing ever slips past Miki.

"I-I'll take partial, okay 91%, responsibility for Kagamin~'s rebellious phase, but… you are surely a very scary person, Miki-san." Konata became a little more formal towards the end.

"I'm not scary at all~." She smiled at her, but that made her seem only scarier. "Also, _Miki-san_ is a big no. The only acceptable way of you addressing me is _mom_ , but I'm allowing _Miki_ for a little longer."

"Mom is still a little… b-but…" The immense pressure was weighing on Konata.

"I know, I know. I'm sure it's hard for you because…" She stopped before opening old wounds. "As long as you don't completely rule out the possibility in the future, I definitely won't force you to anything." Calling someone else _mom_ after losing one's own, surely isn't something to do lightly, and so Miki was happy enough that Konata didn't completely refuse the idea.

"T-Thanks…" She wasn't sure what to answer. "W-Well, for now, I'll try to fulfill my promise to come over, or see you more often for starters…"

"Now that's a good girl."

"Ehehe~…" Konata decided to simply go with the flow.

"By the way, how are your college preparations are going?" Miki decided to change the topic.

"Thanks to Kagamin~, better than anyone ever thought it could go when it comes to me and studying. Being relent-, and merciless would be an underestimation to describe her…"

"That's our Kagami for you."

"That's true… Well, I'm not hating studying as much as I used to, and I actually found something I enjoy with economics."

"Heh~, good for you."

"I still have a long way to go, though… I haven't even found a college to attend yet…"

"Eh, you haven't…? But… Well, I'm sure you'll find a fitting one." Miki's reaction to the information that she was still looking for a college was a little odd, but Konata had no time to question it because Kagami had finally showed up as well and joined the two.

"Ah, you're here already, Kona. Why didn't you say anything?"

"Sorry, I was busy with Miki for a while…"

"What were you two doing?"

"Just a little bonding with the mother of my girlfriend. Nothing of much importance~." Konata had already forgotten about Miki's slightly odd reaction because Kagami had a higher priority over everything else in her brain.

"Ohh… That's never a good thing…" Kagami didn't like the sound of that. "I can't let this continue for any longer. Kona, let's go to my room." Because she knows nothing good ever happens when Konata and Miki spend an extensive amount of time together, Kagami decided to quickly end their chat the two were having over whatever they were talking about.

"Aww, you're no fun~." Miki wasn't happy about that, and fake pouted a little.

"She's my girlfriends after all, and so I have every right to spend as much time with her as I want."

"You seriously aren't jealous over…" Konata wanted to say something, but stopped mid-sentence because she suddenly felt a cold shiver running down her spine. "Yeah, l-let's go to your room."

"Yes~." Kagami seemed satisfied, and the two went to her room afterward.

"Hmm…" Miki tilted her as she watched them leaving. "She's still looking for a college, huh…?" She looked slightly confused for some reason.

….

The couple entered Kagami's room and started studying as usual, almost right away. Their lives weren't exactly the most exciting at the moment, but there was no helping to it. About an hour of silent studying passed when Konata finally wanted to do something against the mood.

"Ah, Kagamin~, did you know that Miki already knows that Tsukasa and Miyuki are an item?"

"Heh~…" Kagami didn't even look up from her papers. "It would be weirder if she didn't, wouldn't it?"

"Ah… Fair point…" Konata's efforts to liven up the mood in the room with a little chatting was in vain because there was nothing more to say already.

Sighing, Konata looked around and noticed that Kagami's room was looking even worse than her own. Kagami had dumped tons of textbooks at Konata's place over the course of time because they're mostly studying there and Konata had even bought a considerable amount of economics-related books on her because she _does_ take it seriously. Kagami's _actual_ room was in a league of its own, though. There was basically nothing else besides study related things anymore. It was clear as a day that she was taking it way more seriously. Law was a somewhat harder subject to study, but Kagami mainly wanted to make sure that she'll make it because it's a longtime dream of hers after all.

Another hour passed and now Kagami was the one who broke the silence. She noticed that it was time for a break, but more importantly remembered something of great importance just now.

"Let's take a break, Ko-"

"Yay!" Her answer came instantly.

"So, how's the search for a college coming along, Kona? You only have this month left after all."

"Eh…?"

"… Huh?" The two apparently weren't on the same page.

"Wait a moment… The deadline is at the end of December, is it not…?"

"No, you have to apply for the colleges of your choice at the end of November at the latest."

"R-Really…?" Konata noticed that she has a problem now.

"Really."

"W-What am I going to do now, Kagamin~?" She was at a total loss.

"Seriously, what are you going to do?" Kagami also had no answer for her. "Don't you have any places you're at least a little interested in?"

"Not really… I have no idea at all… Although, I'm lately feeling that simply going to a local college feels kind of… boring…"

"I agree with you on that, Kona. Also, your grades have gotten way too good for it, and it would be a waste if you simply go to the next best local college just for the sake of going…"

"Ha…" Konata tried her best to suppress her laugh, but it was no use. "Ahaha! How funny… Admit it, you never thought you would ever say these words to me, didn't you~?"

"Hehe…" Kagami couldn't help it and chuckled a little as well. "That's true… It is indeed a very bizarre development~." The two were having some fun for a while over the unexpected situation they were in, but she soon came back to the problem at hand. "So, what are you going to do now, Kona?" She asked the same question one more time.

"I… I… uh…" She still was at a total loss on what to do.

"I know it's a hard and important choice, but you have to decide fast now."

"Hmmng…" Konata started to think hard about her possible choices, but nothing at all came to mind about which college he should apply for. "I seriously can't think of anything at all… Kagamiiin~, where should I gooo~?" She was getting desperate and asked for help again. "Hmm? Kagamin~, are there any decent colleges for economics in Yokohama?"

"W-What…?" Kagami suddenly tensed up after hearing her question.

"Eh…?" Konata thought she had a good idea just now, but Kagami's reaction confused her quite a bit.

"Why Yokohama? Just because I'm going there?"

"Well… I'm not going to deny that I mentioned Yokohama first because of that, but I do recall asking for _decent_ colleges there, didn't I? I don't just want to go to any college there just because I could be with you that way. I took a genuine liking to economics and want to try going through with it. Because of that, I now want to find a good place to study it." Konata tried to deny the assumption that she merely wants to follow Kagami. "Yokohama would be extra awesome because we could be together every single day that way, but if there's no decent college in Yokohama, but in a different prefecture around my home, I'll apply there instead. Too far away is definitely out, though."

"I see, that's relieving…" Kagami's expression softened up considerably after hearing her explanation, but she started to look troubled all of a sudden. "Kona, I'm sorry… There's something I'm hiding from you for a while…"

"H-Huh…?" Konata knew this ominous sounding line from her dating games and had a very bad feeling all of a sudden because of that.

"There… There is a good college in Yokohama… One where you can study economics…"

"E-Eh…?" Konata didn't understand anything at all anymore, but she was relieved that her bad feeling from just now was unjustified because Kagami was just bad with her words as usual.

"Like I said, there is a fitting college for you in Yokohama…" She repeated herself.

"Really? Which one is it?"

"Mine." Kagami only said a single word.

"Huh…?" Konata was having a hard time today.

"My college is mainly known for its law course, but it also offers two other really good main subjects, including business-related studies, meaning economics among others…"

"What…? Is that really true?" Konata couldn't believe this unexpected development. "Why didn't you tell me, Kagamin~?"

"Well…" Kagami was looking for the right words. "I didn't want you to choose my college just for the sake of being with me. I wanted you to find your own college, one that perfectly fits your needs and skills. We would both regret it if you join a college that isn't right for you and fail because of that…"

"I don't get it…" Konata was missing something in her explanation. "I understand your point and all, but why are you telling me now anyway?"

"I noticed that your interest in economics was growing with each passing day as well and your grades also keep getting better and better. Before I knew it, the economics course in my college became a decent choice for you. Also, because you made clear that you really want to join a good college and not simply want to be with me was the last push I needed to be sure…"

"And…?" Konata felt that she was still hiding a small something from her.

"I-I said all that, but… O-Once I noticed it became a viable choice for you, I maybe, just maybe(!) wanted to be together with you as well, Kona…" She was struggling a little to relay her completely honest thoughts on the subject.

"Hehe~." Konata started chuckling. "Oh, the unexpected return of my little tsundere~."

"I'm not a…" Kagami wanted to deny it on reflex like in the _olden days_ , but stopped in the middle and started laughing out of nowhere. "Ahaha, it's been a while, huh?"

"Absolutely, you came a long way, Kagamin~."

"Hehe~."

"I'm going to the same college as Kagamin~." Konata came back to the topic after drifting away from it. "I can't believe it!" She was seriously happy about that development.

"You have to pass first, though."

"Geh-!" She had forgotten about that part.

"Don't worry too much, if you keep going like before, you should have no problem with it, Kona."

"I seriously hope so…"

"Also…" Kagami suddenly looked scary for some reason.

"A-Also…?"

"Now that we have decided to go to the same college… I'll get seriously angry if you don't pass in the end, Kona~."

"O-Okay…" Because she cherished her life, Konata made a mental note that failing wasn't an option.

"Good~." Her smile proved once more that Kagami really is the daughter of Miki. She stopped being scary after a while, and the two then started chatting about the college.

"Soo… Because I didn't know that your college offers more than just law, I wasn't really interested in it and have absolutely no idea what it's like… Tell me something about the college, Kagamin~." Because Konata's only cares about things that are directly related to her, she never had any interest in it.

"Sure… Like I said, the campus is mainly divided into the three main courses the college offers. My law course, your economics course in the business studies department, and computer-related studies as the third category."

"Hmm… I see. Do the departments have any courses together?"

"No more copying homework, Kona."

"Ehh~…?"

"I can see right through you~." Kagami chuckled a little at Konata's obvious reaction. "I actually have no idea… Maybe some general coursed everyone has to do? Or maybe some elective courses…? I would guess they mainly stick to their own departments, though."

"Not that different to our situation in High school right now, huh?"

"You don't need to remind me of that…" The two never were in the same class apart from a few elective courses after all.

"Anything else of interest?"

"Hmm…" Kagami tilted her head while thinking and suddenly stood up. She walked to her desk, and after pushing away about 20 textbooks, she grabbed a flyer looking thing and went back to the table where Konata was still sitting. "Here." She handed her a brochure of the school.

"Heh, it's pretty big, huh?" She was looking at a photo of the college. "I suppose the three big buildings in the middle are for each department?"

"Correct, and the couple smaller ones are for courses that have nothing to do with them."

"I see… Then, what are those long buildings along the campus?"

"Those are the student dorms."

"The college has dorms?" Konata seemed surprised.

"Sure, why wouldn't they? People come from all over the place to attend the college after all."

"That does make sense… Now that you mention it."

"I'm planning to stay there as well, you know?"

"Is that so?" Konata was thinking about something. "I guess I really _have_ to come to your school."

"Huh?" Kagami didn't understand her reasoning until something clicked in her mind. "Don't tell me you're jealous because I'm going to live together with multiple other people~." She was super happy to so Konata actually being jealous because that rarely happens.

"W-Well…"

"Ehehe~." A goofy grin spread on her face before she finally snapped back. "It's not like you have to be worried. The dorms are… wait, no, that argument doesn't work at all…"

"What doesn't work as an argument?"

"I wanted to say that the right dorm building in the picture is for male students and the left one is for females, but it doesn't help me at all that the dorms aren't mixed…" Kagami noticed the error in her argument while saying it out loud.

"If anything, that makes it worse…"

"Ehehe

~." She started smiling again once she saw how openly pouting Konata was right now.

"That's not funny, Kagamin~…" Konata didn't share her excitement.

"I-I'm sorry… I'm just happy that you get jealous as well… Anyway, the dorm rooms are all single ones, so you really don't have to worry. Besides, I would never do anything of that sorts, and would simply kill anyone that tries something with me."

"I see, that's good then…" Konata seemed a little relieved. Kagami wasn't sure it was because she said that she would never try anything, or because of the killing part, and she honestly didn't want to know either. "Dorms, huh…?" While she was a bit relieved, Konata still wasn't that happy about the whole dorm thing.

"Well, they're cheap after all…" That was also the only good point Kagami had for the dorms.

The two chatted a little longer, and Kagami explained some more details of the college to Konata and time passed in the blink of an eye.

"Hey, Kagamin~, you surely agree that we made enough progress for today, right?"

"What do you mean?" Kagami wasn't sure what she meant.

"Although it wasn't entirely studying related, finding a college for me is a great success, isn't it?"

"It surely is…" She still had no idea what she was trying to tell her.

"How about we take it easy for the rest of the day?"

"Ah… I see now…"

"So…?"

"Sure, why not. We deserve a break once in a while~." Kagami was in a pretty good mood because their decision to go to the same college made her happy as well and she wanted to take it easy now, too.

Once the suggestion was agreed to, the two packed a few of their belongings and wanted to head to Konata's place. Taking it easy means playing games for the two and that works better there after all. Konata also had to tell her father about the news. After the two had everything they need, Konata and Kagami went downstairs and ran into Miki again, and both told her the news first.

"Heh~, so Konata's going to the same college, huh? I'm really surprised." She absolutely wasn't, and everyone present could easily see that.

"You totally saw that coming, mom, didn't you?" Kagami obviously noticed her sarcasm.

"How could I not? Once I knew that Konata wants to study economics, I knew what was going to happen next. I'm surprised it took so long, though."

"Well, there were some circumstances…"

Once the two finished chatting with Miki, they finally left the house and arrived at Konata's place after a short while.

…

While Konata kept complaining about the cold until she got rid of her coat at her place, the two noticed that Sojiro was in the living room and they decided to join him. Konata immediately told him about her plan to go the same college as Kagami, but his reaction caused a feeling of déjà-vu in her.

"Heh~, is that so?" Somehow, he didn't seem surprised at all either.

"Don't tell me you knew about Kagami's college as well, dad?"

"Of course I did." He didn't even try to hide it.

"How…?"

"Kagami told me about it."

"Ehh…?" Konata had a hard time keeping up again.

"Aren't you happy now, Kagami?" Sojiro suddenly addressed her.

"S-Sure…"

"Wait, wait, wait, wait a moment… What is going on here?" She needed to get some details.

"Kagami and I had a long talk about it last month."

"Y-You don't need to tell her about it, Sojiro!" Kagami started protesting, but she was splendidly ignored by both.

"She was super cute, you know?"

"Ho~?" Konata leaned forwards because she became super interested.

"She wasn't sure if she should be honest, or be tsun about it. It was adorable~."

"You already got my attention dad, you can stop advertising and tell me."

"We actually barely talked… She was fighting with herself the entire time. She really wanted to go to the same college as you, but also wanted the best for you. She apparently became even more conflicted once you actually chose economics as your major. While I was simply watching her because I couldn't do anything else, she simply went back and forth for about half an hour while complaining to herself and me… 'I want to be with Kona', 'Is my college really okay for her?', 'I really want to be with Kona', 'It really is demanding there, though', 'But I really want to be with Kona', 'It should be fine, right?', 'Yes', 'No'… It went on and on like that."

"Aw, really? How unfair… I would've loved to see that…" Konata was jealous that her father had this adorable outburst of hers all for him alone.

"Au…" While the two were having fun, Kagami was so embarrassed that she hid her face behind her hands, but her crimson blush was still easily visible. Because she couldn't take it anymore, Kagami suddenly stood up and fled out of living room, straight upstairs into Konata's room.

"Ehehe~." Konata and Sojiro chuckled at her cute reaction.

"You really have chosen a good partner there."

"Absolutely no news to me, dad." The two were smiling for a while at each other before Sojiro suddenly got serious again.

"Are you sure this is what you want to do, Konata? If you do this just because you want to be with her, there is a possibility you might going to regret it in the future. Not because you might break up with her eventually, I really can't see this happening, but maybe because the college is nothing for you…" Sojiro also wanted to make sure that Konata wants to do it because of the right reasons.

"You as well, huh? Kagami said the same earlier."

"Well, it's a valid point. I understand perfectly well that you want to be with her, but…"

"It's not like that, dad." Konata interrupted him before he could continue. "Sure, Kagamin~'s the reason why I thought about going to Yokohama as well, but only if there's a decent college around. I was about to start looking in other prefectures as well. Kagamin~ didn't even tell me about the economics course at her college until I mentioned that I'm looking for a decent college and that I would only prefer going to Yokohama instead of absolutely wanting to go there." Konata briefly repeated the discussion she had with Kagami earlier that day over the same topic.

"That's how it is, huh? That relieves me quite a bit, but it makes me sad as well…" Sojiro was feeling conflicted for some reason.

"Sad?"

"That means you're serious and that I'm going to lose my little girl next year…"

"I-It's not like I'm gone completely, you know?" Konata wasn't prepared for that. "I'll come back home often enough, and you still have Yu-chan here, right?"

"That's the only thing that keeps me sane, yes."

"D-Dad, don't get tangled up in any crimes, okay…?" Konata made a joke over his statement, but there was also a genuine hint of worry in her voice.

"I-I would never!" He quickly defended himself.

"That's good… Well then, if you please excuse me now, I have a girl waiting in my room that probably needs to be comforted after getting teased that much."

"Sure, have fun."

"Oh, I will~." Once the conversation with her father was finished, Konata left the living room as well and went to her room.

…..

"So, where's my adorable Kagamin~?" Konata walked into her room with a big smile and spotted a suspicious person trying her best to hide herself under a blanket on the bed while being curled up in a ball. "I really wonder where she could be hiding~."

"Fine, go on and laugh already…" A stifled voice came from beneath the blanket that wanted to get over with it.

"Hmm? Why should I laugh? Just because you're adorable?" Instead of laughing, Konata sat down on the bed and gently started patting Kagami's back above the blanket. "I sure am blessed to have such a cute girlfriend~."

"Shut up…"

"Ehehe~. I'm seriously happy about how you feel. That you still only want my best even though you'd feel lonely makes me feel really special."

"You're as smooth as ever, Kona…" Kagami was pouting beneath the blanket and brushed it off as mere flattering.

"You know… I completely agree with every point you have, Kagami…" Something in her voice suddenly changed.

"Eh…?" Kagami briefly noticed that something was amiss, but she was still too busy being embarrassed to properly react.

"I really agree that our individual studies are more important than being in the same place at all cost… and I was serious when I said that I'll go… wherever the most fitting college is for me, but…" Konata's voice was getting a melancholic feeling to it.

"B-But…?" The slightly bad feeling she had earlier just got stronger.

"I know that I would've gotten extremely lonely…" Konata's answer was barely audible.

"Y-You would…?" Kagami still heard her mutter, and alarm bells started ringing in her head.

"Not just lonely… What would happen once we're in different cities…? You would be busy on one weekend and me probably on another one and we suddenly only see each other once a month… That's just the beginning, though… As we drift further and further away from each other, it quickly shifts to every couple months only, until it gets to the point where it becomes never, and we'll finally go on completely different paths in our life… Things get forgotten and then…" Konata had already long passed the domain of being gloomy and headed straight towards a dangerous territory when Kagami finally stopped her.

"What are you even talking about, Kona?" Kagami immediately stopped pouting and hiding beneath the blanket while addressing Konata with the most calming voice she could muster. She actually thought about slapping Konata for a second because Kagami was upset that she even thought such a scenario could ever happen, but decided against it. The moment she looked at her face, she knew that Konata was seriously scared about that something like that could really happen thanks to the events in her past.

"It's just the natural flow of relationships, isn't it…? Whether it's friendship, or…" Forget dangerous territory, Konata was already about to embrace the dark void in front of her, but luckily got embraced by the exact opposite first. Kagami stopped her from talking and tightly hugged her with all her might.

"You shouldn't ever have such hurtful thoughts, Kona, they make me extremely sad as well." She never stopped hugging her while continuing to speak. "I already told you that something like that is never going to happen and I'll promise it once more." Kagami took a deep breath. "Kona, you're my everything, and I love you. I'm never going to leave you, and I honestly can't even think about without shaking my head because it's such nonsense that I even unconsciously deny it already. I was never happier in the 18 years of my life since I met you. I would've never thrown away this bliss over a silly one and something-ish hour long train ride, you know? You have absolutely nothing to worry and let me say it once more, I won't ever abandon you until the very end because I can't be without you anymore." Kagami renewed her declaration of love towards Konata and even went a little further, but the depth of it wasn't important right now because the most crucial thing right now was to make Konata feel secure again. Once she finished talking, Kagami stopped hugging her and looked straight into Konata's eyes with a perfect display of determination that made Konata unable to doubt even a single word. "I love you, Kona, please don't ever forget that." Once she noticed that the shine came back to Konata's eyes after briefly embracing the darkness, Kagami leaned forward and completely pulled her out of it with a gentle, yet powerful kiss on her lips.

"Thank you, Kagamin~…" The two parted after a while, and Konata looked like she had recovered at least a bit. "I'm sorry… It seems like I still fully gotten over the past, huh…? Kind of pathetic, isn't it? Having such a wonderful partner and still getting down over something like that… Ahaha…" A single tear ran down her cheek as she forced a dry laugh out of her.

"Kona… It's okay to feel down and even cry… Just remember that I'm always going to be there for you if you need me." Kagami hugged her again, and the two spent a couple minutes in their silent embrace.

"It's fine now, thank you again, Kagamin~. It's kind of funny, isn't it?" Her voice sounded a lot livelier now.

"What is it?" Kagami noticed it as well.

"I came here to comfort you because dad and I teased you a little too much earlier and look what happened…"

"Hehe, it kind of went the other way around, huh?" She felt that it was okay to make some jokes again.

"Well, I was the one who was able to get spoiled this way. I guess that's not so bad~."

"You're such a dork, Kona."

"Is it really okay for _you_ to call others a dork?"

"If a dork isn't allowed to call others a dork, then who is?" Kagami literally embraced Konata's teasing with open arms.

"A very fair point." Konata nodded at her explanation, and both started laughing because of their silliness after a while. Once they calmed down again, Konata spoke up once more. "Ha… I love you, too, Kagamin~… Thanks for bearing with me."

"It's a pleasure~." Kagami smiled from ear to ear, and so did Konata. "So, what do you want to do for the rest of the weekend, Kona?" The time for a drastic change of topic was already long overdue.

"Hmm…" Konata welcomed the change, and she suddenly looked like that this was the hardest decision she had to make today.

"How about we start with a movie, followed by two more or until we get sleepy? Then, we get up in a timely manner tomorrow and don't stop gaming until it's dark outside again? After that, more movies and we repeat the same thing on Sunday as well?" Kagami suggested a very interesting plan and Konata's eyes started sparkling.

"I may be getting repetitive here, Kagamin~, but I seriously love you."

"I can take that as a yes then?"

"If we can smuggle a little bit of anime in as well, the plan would simply be perfect."

"Sure, why not~? Let's mix that in for tomorrow." Kagami was in a good mood and wanted to spoil Konata.

"Seriously?! Well then, let's get going!" Konata passed the TV remote to Kagami who then chose a random movie. Both then got comfortable on the bed while starting to cuddle as usual. The cuddling somehow ended up being way more important, and both had problems recalling what the movie even was about once it ended. Without caring about such small details, the two selected another movie, but the result was the same for some inexplicable reason. Thankfully, the movies weren't the only things that couldn't be remembered after an extended amount of peaceful cuddling. Konata's slight breakdown was also forgotten already before the day even ended.

…

Absolutely nothing of interest happened during the remaining days of the weekend. They loosely stuck to Kagami's masterfully thought out plan, except for the part about getting up in a timely manner because the two both horribly overslept on Saturday and Sunday. The two played games, watched animes and movies, and only left Konata's room when it was absolutely necessary. The incredibly relaxing weekend, unfortunately, turned into Monday, and the couple had to move again because it was time for school.

Once lunch-break started, Konata and Kagami told Miyuki and Tsukasa about the plan for college.

"Really? You two are going to the same college? That's awesome!" Tsukasa seemed really happy for the two.

"It really is!" The couple naturally agreed with her.

"Now you two don't have to die!" Tsukasa remembered the conversation she had with Miyuki about animals that die of loneliness when separated from each other.

"H-Huh…?" Konata and Kagami first looked at each other and then at Tsukasa because she said something really weird and slightly dangerous just now.

"Please don't mind her…" Miyuki answered for Tsukasa. "That's slightly complicated to explain and also doesn't make a- much sense anyway." She first wanted to say that it didn't make _any_ sense at all, but Miyuki never was good at lying.

"Yeah, that sounds like Tsukasa." This explanation was enough for the couple to give up.

"Wow, I'm so happy and relieved that you two aren't going to be separated for college. I was really worried about it…" Tsukasa made a little more sense now.

"Thanks, Tsukasa." All of them kept chatting a little longer about some detail until lunch break was over.

Once school was over and when Kagami just had met up with Konata in the hallway, the two ran into Kuroi-sensei.

"Wow, you two are never separated anymore, aren't you?"

"And never will." It was slightly creepy that even their answer to that was totally in synch.

"I-Is that so…" Kuroi-sensei regretted teasing them and quickly changed the topic. "Izumi, I still need to know which college you're applying to… You're long overdue with that."

"Ah, about that…" Konata filled in Kuroi-sensei as well and explained her decision once more.

"Wow, that's…" Kuroi-sensei was the first person that was actually surprised. "I noticed that you were taking things more seriously ever since Hiiragi… happened, but I never would've thought to that degree. Economics, huh? Yeah, after your grades in marketing from the last term, I can actually see that."

"Thank you very much, sensei."

"I mean you two wanting to be together is a given, but it's a really good choice." Kuroi-sensei wasn't that surprised after all. "Do it exactly as you planned, Izumi. I know that college and you should really do your best to get in there. Judging by your grades, or rather how they are progressing, it's the perfect fit for you. You as well, Hiiragi, their law department is quite a bit more demanding, but from what I heard from the other teacher, you'll have no problem."

"I hope so, too, sensei."

"Well then, keep going like that, both of you and do your best. Also, Hiiragi, feel free to kick her rear once she slacks up too much again. It's an amazing feat you did there with Izumi, and we don't want her to revert back again, right?"

"Thanks, but it's too late getting permission for that."

"Ahaha~, man you two are amazing in various kinds of ways."

Once they finished talking with Kuroi-sensei, the couple finally left the school and made their way back home. While getting warmed up in the train towards their house, the two chatted some more.

"Now that I think about it…" Kagami tilted her head while speaking up. "I wonder if we're able to choose our rooms in the college dorms… Wouldn't it be awesome to get rooms right next to each other?"

"Hmm…" Konata didn't sound that enthusiastic.

"You still don't like the dorms, huh~?"

"S-Shut up…" She hit the nail on the head.

"Ehehe~. Well, there's nothing we can do about it, right?"

"Probably… I mean, we would need… Hmm…" Konata suddenly stopped talking and started grinning.

"What's wrong, Kona?"

"Nothing at all." So she said, but her grin only got wider.

"Oh no…" Kagami knew that expression, and it never meant anything good. Unfortunately, Konata didn't say a single word about the topic anymore, and Kagami continued to have a bad feeling for quite a while.

* * *

[]

.

Haa… I have no idea what happened here… I was writing fluff as usual, and suddenly I had taken a wrong turn and ended up with a depressed Konata… Even though I seriously hate any kind of drama and promised myself to never bring up the (unnecessary) idea about Konata's past again. Well, compared to other stories, that drama here wasn't even worth mentioning, I guess.

While I really don't like it, things like that add a fantastic amount of depth to the character of Konata. She's not just a happy go lucky otaku, she also has some scars and is a simple, hopelessly romantic girl at heart when it comes to Kagami. It's not only about what happened in elementary and middle school what Kagami is so concerned about. The loss of her mother that triggered the whole problems is also still weighing her a little down, but Miki is fighting on that front. It's been quite a while, and even though I thankfully have no experience in it, I don't believe those scars ever disappear completely. Miki is trying her best that Konata opens up to her not just as a friend and the mother of her girlfriend, but a little as _her_ mother as well. She definitely doesn't want to replace her, but just give her a little bit of comfort in a way only a mother can, and Konata's slowly warming up to the idea bit by bit.

Yes, I'll stop talking about it now… The crybaby (me) is kind of getting depressed over here… (It doesn't take much for that…)

….

The couple sure is easy to read, huh? Like, nobody was the slightest bit surprised that the two want to go to the same college. Well, I'm probably easy to read as well, though. Probably nobody didn't see that plot coming from a mile ago…

Kagami basically proposed to Konata as well when she tried her best to cheer her up. I wonder what would've happened if Konata were in a better state when that happened~.

By the way, I'm treating 'college' and 'university' as the same in the story so feel free to use the better fitting word in your head.

….

Off to the next chapter! Actually, the next chapter is already mostly done as well, and I'm currently in the middle of ch. 44 already, but I won't be releasing 43 before the start of December for timeline's sake. 44 will be a Christmas chapter so you can guess why I'm stretching the releases a little.

I can't say much about ch. 43 without spoiling it completely (If I haven't done that already…). Let me just say that, on the contrary to what Kuroi-sensei said about that the couple never being separated, this will be proven false soon. 43 is featuring both, Konata, and Kagami, but not at the same time and/or place. I think that's maybe actually the first chapter where the two aren't together at all… (If I don't change anything until then…)

Also, with this chapter, the 300k words have fallen (Well, that's including my ramblings at the end of the chapters, so…). If I haven't missed a story, it's also already the second longest Lucks Star story here. I highly doubt it will ever become the longest because that has way over 500k, but I still have a _little_ left to write about, though.


	43. Another decision and planning

The month November was already on its last legs, but Kagami was having a bit of a problem on Saturday of the last weekend of the month before the calendar would change to December. It actually wasn't that much of a problem, but rather the fact that she was all alone on that day. Her bigger sisters, Inori and Matsuri, where doing whatever, as usual, Tsukasa was at Miyuki's place, nothing surprising there either. Her parents, Miki and Tadao, were about to leave as well, and worst of all, Konata also was busy with something. The last detail was actually the only real problem. Long story short, Kagami was doomed to do housesitting, and even though she's able to keep herself busy with studying, Kagami was already bored before the day really started. She absolutely wasn't lonely, though. Kagami made sure that everyone knew that much at least. Multiple times that is.

"Well then, we'll be going now, Kagami." Miki and Tadao were already standing fully dressed in the hallway and were about to leave when saying goodbye.

"Okay, have fun… or whatever you planned in the first place…" Kagami had no idea what her parents were up to, but she really didn't feel asking either for various reasons. Possible date plans of the two aren't really in her range of interests.

"I'm not sure when we'll be back, but we'll bring takeout food, so don't bother with cooking, okay, Kagami?" Miki was worried about her kitchen after all.

"Come on, we still have some leftovers in the fridge to just heat up, right? Even without Kona around, I can do at least this much now, you know?"

"B-But…" Miki wasn't convinced at all, or rather, plainly sure that it wasn't the case.

"Oi!" She wasn't happy about that. "Just go already, you two! It'll be fine." Kagami pushed them out of the entrance door before Tadao could even say a single word on the matter, and both forcefully left their home. "Haa… Even I wouldn't mess up with just warming up food… So, what am I going to do now…?" Completely ignoring the death flag she just raised, she thought about something to do while she was alone. "Well… I guess I'll give my best and study all day… I'm busy and thus not lonely after all!"

….

While Kagami wasn't fighting her loneliness because she wasn't lonely, her parents arrived at their destination, a, to her, very well-known house.

"Do you happen to know what Konata wants to talk about with us? Something to extra invite us over…" Tadao was looking at the Izumi house with a confused look.

"I wonder~."

"So you know, huh?" Tadao wasn't married to her for nothing. "Mind telling me?"

"No, I don't exactly _know_ what she wants, I just have a hunch about what it could be. Well, we'll know soon enough, right?" Miki's answer wasn't satisfying, but she simply pressed the doorbell, effectively postponing the conversation for now. Sojiro opened the door, and after exchanging some greeting, they went to the living room and sat down.

"Sojiro-san, do you know what your daughter wants to talk about with all of us?" Tadao had already lost against his wife, but he hoped that Konata's father was a more reliable source of information. He hadn't had much contact with him yet, so he couldn't know that this was a useless effort.

"Unfortunately, I don't have the slightest idea. Up until an hour ago, I didn't even know that the two of you were coming as well." All Sojiro was asked by Konata was if he's free today after all.

"I see… Well, we really have to wait then, huh…?"

"Sojiro-san, how are the studies of Konata coming along?" Miki decided to have some small-talk until the person in question shows up.

"Almost too good, actually… Whenever I see her lately, I always think 'Who's that girl next to Kagami' for a second before I remember that's my daughter. I've never seen her that motivated before… Your Kagami sure is something else." Sojiro knew that she's the sole reason for Konata's drastic change.

"Thank you very much." As her parents, they were very happy to hear that.

"Seriously though… Kagami wasn't just able to talk her into going to college, but also made her want to go to such a high level one in Yokohama because she's actually serious about it and even likes to study her economics thing…"

"Kagami was happy about it as well. She really wanted to be together with Konata there after all."

"Hehe… Those two sure are cute."

"You can say that again." Miki agreed with him.

The parent's group continued to have some small-talk about their daughters until the host, and reason of their get-together finally showed up. Konata, seemingly nervous for some reason, entered the living room and awkwardly sat down in the free place next to her father after giving some light greetings to the group.

"It really has gotten cold lately, huh…?" Konata had absolutely no idea how to start the discussion she's planning to have with them.

"It sure has~." Miki played along with her nervousness.

"Erm…" She was too busy with fidgeting and couldn't say much.

"Just get out with it, Konata, you really don't have to be nervous in front of us." Miki tried to make it easier for her.

"Yeah… You're right… Okay, I'll make it short." Konata finally found her courage and took a deep breath. "As you all know, Kagamin~ and I are planning to go to the same college in Yokohama. That in itself is awesome, but there's a _small_ change I want to suggest. Instead of going to the dorm like it's currently planned… I want to live together with Kagamin~ in an apartment on our own."

"…" Sojiro and Tadao didn't say a word, and Miki simply looked at her with a warm smile. It looked like her guess on what this discussion was about, was pretty much spot on.

"I know it's a little sudden and all, but that's what I want to do." She had an extremely determined look on her face. "I'm aware that it's an expensive plan, but I recently came to quite a lot of money by selling some of my things, and I think it should suffice for paying the rent and extra costs during our time in college."

"Is that how it is…" The two fathers, especially Tadao looked somewhat dubious while Miki simply continued to smile. "Why do you want to live together with Kagami? I believe the dorms are far more practical, don't you think?" Tadao asked for her motivation behind her plan.

"Hmm… First off, I really don't want to live in a dorm, much less want Kagami to live there… You never know what kind of people live there as well and lure in the hallway. They could be dangerous… in many ways, or want _something_ from you…" Konata tried to stay objective, but she wasn't very good at it, and her _slight_ jealousy that was plainly obvious to a certain someone was already leaking out.

"Ha-…" Miki was almost unable to suppress her laugh, but was somehow able to save herself.

"I'm also not sure if I can trust Kagami living on her own… No, I'm worried about it. The college dorm only provides the room, right? You still have to cook on your own, and do laundry and stuff… Do you think Kagamin~ is ready for that?" It sounded incredibly rude, especially coming from the girlfriend of the person in question who tells it her parents on top, but no one said anything for some reason. "Sure, we probably would end up doing those kinds of things together anyway, but, for example, cooking probably is going to pretty bothersome together in a small room intended for single use."

"Ahaha…" Miki finally failed at holding back and openly started laughing while nodding her head. "That's actually a pretty sound argument… As much as I don't want to admit it as the mother who had failed at teaching her those things…"

"Hehe… Kagamin~ isn't an easy to teach girl when it comes to that after all. I have made some painful experiences with that." Konata had a light chuckle as well, but then got serious again because she wasn't done yet. "Kagamin~ and I are already pretty used to pseudo-living together by now because we're basically together the entire time at my place. We more or less know what we're getting into when living together because we take care of cooking and other chores together when dad's busy or not at home as well because of his work. Thanks to that, I think we're ready for the next step." Konata continued to give it her all to convince the parent's faction of her plan of living together. "Being together all the time and taking care of each other sounds pretty awesome, doesn't it? Even if you aren't exactly alone in a dorm, a single room does sound rather… lonely, right?" Miki, and especially Sojiro reacted to that statement, but Konata was already stronger than that and simply continued to dish out arguments. "Compared to a tiny dorm room for each of us, I think an apartment offers a far superior living quality. It's less cramped, bathroom and kitchen are surely better as well, and lots of other things… Also… in a dorm… sharing Kagamin~…" Konata was just mumbling those last words, and they weren't audible to anyone except one person.

"Okay, okay… We heard enough…" Miki stopped her for various reasons. "I don't particularly have anything against the idea itself, I kind of saw something like that happening in the future anyway, looking at the progress of your relationship, but…"

"Konata, do you really want to burn through your money for that?" Sojiro was concerned that she maybe would regret it in the future that she blew her _small_ fortune in order to have a more exciting college life.

"I'm just following Kagamin~'s advice here. She's the one who said I should save the money for something I really want in the future that needs money. I can't think of anything even remotely close to being as awesome as living with her… Also, it's not like I worked hard for that money, I was just lucky. I think it's okay to use it to fulfill a dream, rather than using it for something that would be more _practical_.

"I see…" There was nothing Sojiro could say any more, nor did he want to because he understands his daughter.

"Hmm…" Tadao, who was silently listening until now, finally spoke up. "How much money have you saved up for that, Konata?"

"Huh…? Uhm, about 10 Million ¥…"

"Hoh, impressive… Still, even 10 Million ¥ could be a little tight for living comfortably in Yokohama for four years. At best, I think you would need to spend every single ¥ on it. Even then, I'm not entirely sure how good the quality of the apartment would be. I guess that you would need to be lucky in your search for an apartment…" It didn't seem like he was against the idea either, but Tadao had a couple concerns about the money and how much Konata had thought about it.

"R-Really…? I knew it was going to be really expensive, but… really…?" Konata looked incredibly down in an instant. She had a hunch that it was going to cost a lot, but she had thought that she had at least a small puffer in her budget.

"Ahhh! Don't look like that!" Sojiro couldn't bear her expression. "I have a proposal for you, Konata. I was planning to pay for everything college-related anyway… Including the dorm, food, and whatever else comes up… How about I add those costs to your budget instead?"

"S-Seriously?!" Konata instantly started beaming again.

"Aww… And here I thought I could have a cool moment…" Tadao looked disappointed. "Just like Sojiro-san said, we planned to pay for Kagami's side as well. We wouldn't mind giving this money to Kagami to pay for the apartment instead either. We maybe could even add a little extra because I really like the of you two taking care of each other." He took a liking to Konata's idea. "I also think would be a worthwhile experience for future lives, so I'm supporting your plan, Konata."

"I-I'm not dreaming… right?" Konata pinched her cheek once and then quickly transcended from the state of simply beaming and the others had to protect their eyes in order to not go blind.

"Hehehe…" Miki began chuckling again because it was so easy to read her emotions. "You're exactly like Kagami in some ways…" Konata wasn't the only one like that after all.

"It doesn't come without a couple conditions from our side, of course." Tadao obviously wasn't planning to let them completely do as they please. "The two most important things are that both of you aren't going to neglect your studies, or rather, everything related to college, and of course take care of each other at all cost. Also… You have to promise me that you have Kagami do some of the housework as well… She finally has to learn to do that completely on her own…" Tadao couldn't help taking a jab at her daughter as well. "You two have to live a healthy lifestyle, and…" It seemed like it's going to be a long list.

"Ah, wait a moment please…" Konata suddenly interrupted him. "Can you please make a list for me? I'll agree to absolutely anything if that means I can live together with Kagamin~! The points you mentioned are already a given anyway." Konata didn't care about a few rules if that means she can live out her dream. Seeing her determination and excitement, her father and Kagami's parents smiled warmly before giving her a nod.

"Okay, I want to do the conclusion~." Miki wanted to say something again. "Under the mentioned conditions and rules, we'll allow you two to live together and partially support you with the money we planned to spend anyway."

"R-Really… I… uhm…" Konata didn't know what to say and teared up a little because she was so incredibly happy right. Once she calmed down a little after a while, she got up and deeply bowed in front of the parents because she was so thankful. "Thank you very much, all of you."

"You're welcome." She got a nice, collective answer.

"Konata, we want to discuss a few more details, and you probably need to plan a couple things as well, right?"

"Ah, sure… Again, thank you very much, dad, Miki, and Tadao." Konata bowed again and was about to leave the living room when she suddenly stopped again. "I almost forgot… I kind of have a small request as well… Can you not…"

"Yes, Konata." Miki stopped her in the middle of her sentence. "We won't tell Kagami anything, you can surprise her all you want with it." She knew perfectly well what Konata wanted.

"Ahhh, so that's why Kagami isn't here today~." Sojiro and Tadao finally understood it as well.

"Thanks~." Konata finally left, and the parents started discussing things once more.

…

"Okay, hands up who's surprised by this development." Miki decided to start with a joke.

"Sojiro-san, do you think the two are ready to live on their own together?" Tadao, on the other hand, decided to ignore his wife, for now, earning a cute pout from her in return.

"Hmm…" He started thinking about it. "It should be fine. The two are quite good at running a household together if you ask me."

"Together, that is…" Miki sighed as she looked at her phone. "Dear, it really is too early for Kagami to live completely on her own… We should be thankful that Konata is willing to take her in…" She showed her phone to Tadao who promptly sighed as well when he read the following mail on the screen.

 _Sorry mom,_

 _I messed up with reheating the leftovers. Please bring some food after all. Also, feel free to take your time with dad because the kitchen doesn't look so good right now._

 _Thanks,_

 _Kagami_

"Oookay… About the budget…" Tadao stopped asking about their ability to live together because of his daughter and changed the topic. "If we add up rent, electricity, water, food for the two, and various miscellaneous costs, it's probably going to be easily 250 000 ¥ per month. Maybe even a little more because I'm not entirely sure about the current rental prices and I won't allow them to live in a rundown or insecure apartment." He made a quick list of the cost and then started comparing it to the dorm. "Miki and I had calculated that dorm, including food and allowance for Kagami, would cost us about 60 000 ¥."

"Yeah, I had about the same amount in mind." Sojiro agreed with their calculation. "I think I could go somewhat higher, though. If it's for her sake…"

"We also could go up to… maybe 75 000 ¥. If both sides would do that, Konata _only_ had to pay 100 000 ¥ from her own savings."

"100 000 ¥, huh?" Sojiro thought about Tadao's suggestion. "That would only kill about… half of her 10 Million ¥ in those four years. That sounds way better in my opinion, especially because they need to buy some furniture, among other things as well. Even after that, she should still have more than enough of saved up money for whatever the future holds." He agreed to the plan, and the budget talks came to a quick closure.

"Oh, I just remembered something…" Tadao decided to advance their discussion. "An acquaintance of mine works as a realtor. I don't know if he has anything available in Yokohama, but he maybe could help us find a suitable apartment for the two. One with a good price value and more importantly, a safe one."

"Hmm…" Sojiro tilted his head. "Sounds good to me and I'm also free next weekend. I could go and take a look with Konata in Yokohama. Knowing her, she surely doesn't want to wait longer than that after all."

"Looks like we have a plan here." Miki, and with that, Tadao as well, agreed to the idea, and once everything was planned out, the parents engaged in more small-talk.

"Children really grow at an amazing pace, aren't they…?" Sojiro suddenly looked a little melancholic.

"It's frightening, isn't it?" Tadao also looked into the far distance. "I already have two daughters in college, but Kagami's the first one who's actually going to move out of the house…"

"Konata's my only child, so that makes it even worse…"

"Nonono, having more children doesn't make it easier in the slightest when someone leaves, you know?! That only means you have to go through that pain multiple times!" The two fathers somehow started competing on who has it harder for some stupid reason. While the two continued to agonize, and almost cried over their moving daughters, Miki let out a sigh.

"Those over-doting fathers…" She shook her head before continuing. "Look, I'm also pretty sad they're going to Yokohama, but we should be happy for them, you know? Something like this is an occasion to celebrate instead, and we should be glad that the two found each other because their relationship is something really special. Also, no I'm not talking about their circumstances.

"We know…" The two over-doting fathers were perfectly aware of what Miki said, but they couldn't help feeling sad about their daughters leaving the house.

Once the two calmed down to some degree, all of them kept talking about various things because it was a fairly rare occasion for the three to meet up, but once it became evening, Miki and Tadao decided to head home again. They, of course, didn't forget to bring some takeout-food for Kagami with them on the way back. Luckily, Kagami finished up cleaning the kitchen a couple minutes prior the time where her parents arrived at home.

…..

…..

A week passed, the date on the calendar finally changed to December a couple days ago, and Konata, together with her father were spending the day in Yokohama to look for apartments together. Kagami still had no idea at all about those developments and faced yet another problem this Saturday as well. She naturally wasn't bored or lonely at all because she couldn't meet up with Konata again or anything. To kill a little time, she still went to Konata's place regardless as usual, even though she knew that no one was going to be there. She had a good reason, though. Kagami really wasn't bored, but she had forgotten a study book there that she absolutely needs today. While she kept telling herself that, Kagami soon reached Konata's house. Using her key, as usual, she entered and went to Konata's room. There, she threw herself on the bed and looked at the ceiling for a while. She could always simply pick up a random textbook when leaving later on for her excuse to work after all.

About ten more minutes passed, and Kagami was about to succumb to the deathly comfortableness of Konata's bed, but right before she fell asleep, she heard some noises coming from Yutaka's room.

"Oh, Yutaka and the others are here, huh? Well, might as well pay them a visit before I actually nap the day away here…" She had already forgotten about her excuse why she came over in the first place. Kagami reluctantly got up from the bed, walked over to Yutaka's room and entered after knocking on the door. As expected, she found Yutaka, Minami, and Hiyori sitting around the small table in the middle of the room while happily chatting with each other.

"Eh? Kagami-senpai? What are you doing here…?" Yutaka was the first to notice her and looked a little confused. "Konata-oneechan isn't at home, you know?"

"I know that much, Yutaka… Ah, but do you have any idea where she went? Kona only told me that she's busy the entire day…"

"Huh? I thought you would know that…" She seemed surprised that Kagami didn't know either. "Konata-oneechan only said that she doesn't even know if she'll be back today actually when she left with her father really early in the morning…"

"Ehhh…" That wasn't the answer Kagami was hoping for. "Hiyori is there an event or something like that the two are likely attending today?" If it's her, she would know about these kinds of things.

"None that I'm aware of and Konata-senpai surely would've told me if she's attending one." Hiyori instantly denied Kagami's guess.

"Too bad… Just what is that rascal up to this time…? She's acting weird all week long already… I somehow have a really bad feeling about this… way worse than usual, to be exact…" Kagami often had a bad feeling when it comes to Konata's plans, but this time felt somewhat different, and that's never a good sign.

"By the way…" Yutaka tried to get back to the initial topic. "If you know that Konata-oneechan isn't here, why did you come over, Kagami-senpai?"

"Hmm…? Ah, uhm… Right, I forgot a textbook here that I need for studying at home…" Kagami almost couldn't remember the excuse she made up to have a reason to come over. She didn't come to Konata's place merely because she was bored and lonely after all. That absolutely wasn't the case here. "Oh, I also wanted to retrieve some of my summer clothes because I won't be needing them here anymore and I need some place for my winter clothes…" She quickly thought about another excuse, but that actually was a real problem now that she thought about it. Bringing them home with her would prove even more that she wasn't simply bored.

"Heh~?" Hearing that, Hiyori looked pretty excited. "It's almost like you actually live here instead, Kagami-senpai."

"Not on paper, at least…" Kagami had no means to deny it because it was more or less the case.

"Ehehe~." Hiyori seemed pretty happy with the answer, but then suddenly remembered something from earlier. "Ah, there's a small thing that's bothering me ever since you showed up, Kagami-senpai…"

"Hmm, what is it?"

"Us three were the only ones in the house, and none of us ever left Yutaka's room to open the door… How did you even enter then?"

"How? With my key, of course…" Help up her personal house-key like the most normal thing ever.

"Y-You have a key…?!" Hiyori wasn't prepared for that response. "You really do live here after all, don't you?! Yutaka, back me up here!"

"W-Well… Kagami-senpai is here pretty often… Actually, basically daily, to be exact, so…" Even Yutaka, who _does_ live there couldn't refute Hiyori's claim.

"Leaving that aside…" Hiyori became interested in the topic itself. "Would there even change anything if you two were to live together?" She was simply curious about the matter and definitely isn't going to use it as a reference for her mangas.

"Hmm…" Kagami put a finger on her chin as she thought about it. Quite a lot of things came to her mind, but because most of them, if not all, weren't suitable for saying out loud, Kagami went for a different approach. It wouldn't change anything, but she wasn't the one who said it in the end. "I'll leave that up to your imagination, Hiyori~." Actually, that probably would end up in something way worse than she ever could've said, but that wasn't her problem anymore. "Well, Kona and I have to wait a couple more years anyway to find out because we're going to live in single rooms in the college dorm."

"T-That's your retort?!" Hiyori was once more completely defeated by the scale where the couple works at. "It's already a given in the future, huh…?" Teasing Kagami really doesn't work as much as she hoped to. "Still, dorm life sounds fun on its own, doesn't it?"

"Probably…" Kagami didn't sound overly excited. "Kona really doesn't like the dorm, though… Also, it's basically a step back from right now where we share Kona's room more or less every day…"

"You sure have interesting problems there…" Hiyori wasn't sure what to answer as usual.

"Well, there's nothing we-… Oh, speak of the devil…" Kagami stopped speaking midsentence because she felt her phone vibrating in her pocket and saw on the screen that Konata had sent her a message. "Let's see… I have to keep myself free for Christmas and the days after, huh…?" She read the context of the mail. "Does she think I'm making plans without her for Christmas or what…?"

"Kagami-senpai…" For some reason, Hiyori sounded somewhat annoyed all of a sudden.

"W-What's wrong?"

"Please stop bragging, okay…?" Hiyori maybe was the only one who said it out loud, but Yutaka and Minami in the background also looked somewhat jealous. "I love listening to the relationship of the two of you, but there are limits…"

"Ahaha…" A dry laugh left Kagami's lips. "T-That really wasn't my intention… Wait, if she's already planning something for Christmas, me having a bad feeling about how she's acting really wasn't just an overreaction… Wait a moment… She's with her father right now, isn't she? If he's involved with the Christmas plans as well… Forget having a bad feeling, I'm legitimately scared now…"

"And she keeps on bragging…" Kagami's complaints made it only worse. Thanks to that, and because she wouldn't get an answer anyway, Kagami changed the topic to something else.

…

The group kept chatting about this and that for a while, but they noticed at some point that Hiyori had stopped participating in the topic and became completely silent.

"You've been unusually silent, Hiyori, what-… Eh?" Kagami looked at her and noticed that something was wrong because she kept staring at her phone with big eyes while her hands were shaking. "W-What's wrong?! Did something happen?!"

"…" There was no answer, not even a slight reaction to her voice.

"H-Hiyori-chan…?" Yutaka became worried as well.

"Huh…? D-Did someone say something…?" Hiyori finally changed her focus from her phone to her surroundings.

"We asked you what's wrong… You were behaving rather oddly just now…"

"Ehm… S-Someone… contacted me over my blog where I usually post some Illustrations or mangas I don't sell at comiket and the likes… T-That person who contacted me… a-apparently works for a p-publisher and… is interested…" Hiyori was so nervous and excited that she could barely bring out the words.

"Wow, congratulations!" Yutaka and Minami were happy for her.

"Ahhh…" Kagami's reaction was a little different, and she even looked like she did already know about it. "Sakaki-san finally messaged you, huh?" An unknown name suddenly came up.

"Y-Yes, that's his name…" Hiyori nodded because she was right, but then stopped because something seemed weird about this exchange. "Hmm… Wait a moment…" She finally noticed the reason for her confusion. "W-Why the-… How do know his name, K-Kagami-senpai?"

"It was about time… He should've contacted you over a month ago already after all… He sure is as unreliable as always…" Kagami completely ignored her while casually insulting this unknown person.

"Oi!" Hiyori's eyes looked scary because she apparently was missing some crucial information here.

"Hmm? Well, Sakaki-san contacted you to request some concept art and work samples, right?" She still wasn't helpful at all.

"Nonono, that's not the point here!" Hiyori was more and more losing her patience. "Also, not really… He _just_ wants to know if I'm interested in working with them…"

"Haa…" She let out a big sigh. "He couldn't even do that right, huh…?"

"Ka-ga-mi-se-n-pa-i~." Hiyori finally snapped, walked over and grabbed her shoulders. "Just what is going on here?!" She yelled while shaking Kagami.

"C-Calm down, Hiyori… That guy, Sakaki-san, is Sojiro's main, or rather, real editor."

"I see… Yeah, no, I don't! What does this have to do with Sojiro-sensei all of a sudden?!" She didn't understand anything anymore.

"The publisher of Sojiro's novel is playing around with the idea of making a promotional manga adaption of his series…"

"Wait, what…?"

"It's planned to be released somewhere around spring next year, and they're currently looking for an artist to do it."

"I-I said _wait_ …"

"The original artist of the novel illustrations apparently isn't interested in doing the manga because he's too busy with other projects."

"Ehhh…" Hiyori wasn't properly working anymore because it became too much. "Sooo… They want me to do some advertisement in my circle or at comiket or what…?"

"No, why would they want work samples from you then? If they're happy with the samples they receive, they want you to make the manga adaption itself…" Kagami explained the situation in a calm manner, but the effects were still tremendous.

"…" Hiyori had completely stopped working by now, and she simply stared with an open mouth at Kagami while processing the words she heard.

"Like I said…" Kagami started repeating herself because she thought Hiyori hadn't heard her.

"It's not a sound problem!" Hiyori unfroze and instantly snapped because it was becoming rather obvious that Kagami was just having fun messing with her on purpose.

"Hehe."

A short while passed before Hiyori started to calm down to some degree and the two started a new attempt to talk about it.

"W-Why are they asking me, though…? I'm sure they have a lot of other, professional, manga artist at hand, haven't they, Kagami-senpai?"

"Hmm… Sojiro said he really liked the mangas you drew based on his novels, and because your style perfectly matches with what he has in mind while writing, he showed his editor your mangas. Once he saw them, Sakaki-san showed it around at work, and it somehow reached the higher-ups, who then had the idea with the manga adaption… Oh, you're actually the reason for the manga adaption in the first place, huh…? Haven't noticed that before~." Kagami casually dropped yet another bomb without minding the mental state of Hiyori.

"B-B-B-Be-Because of me…?! T-They, a famous publisher, w-want to make a manga adaption of a really popular light novel b-because of me?!" She started to freak out again.

"Everyone in the agency really liked them after all… Well, they only saw the all ages ones, though…" Kagami wasn't even trying to be helpful.

"R-Really…?" She went from freaking out to embarrassed. Getting praise from professionals is something else that doesn't happen every day after all. "Hold on… Wait a moment, Kagami-senpai!" After being embarrassed for a minute or two, Hiyori remembered something else.

"What is it now?"

"Correct me if I'm wrong… But, you said that you knew about all that since last month, right…? And yet, you didn't say anything at all?!" She couldn't believe Kagami kept all that to herself.

"Did I say that I found out about it last month…? The plans for the manga adaption first reached my ears a little after the summer break. Sakaki-san wanted more of your mangas back then and a link to your blog which I all got from Konata back then." Kagami kept dropping heavy details without minding the outcome in the slightest. "Well, it's not like I was allowed to anyone in the first place. It was a secret back then after all."

"…" Hiyori froze up once again. She needed a moment to take everything in. She suddenly pinched herself after a while to make sure of something. "I'm not dreaming… right?"

"Should I _punch_ you to make sure~?" Kagami clenched her first and seemed eager to go. "No, _let_ me _punch_ you to make sure~."

"No, sorry, I'm fine… Also, you want to _pinch_ someone if they think they're dreaming, you know?!" She was a little scared by the look on Kagami's face. "S-So that means you haven't made up all that right now, Kagami-senpai…?"

"Why would I make up something like that? It's way too much of a hassle after all, and it's not like I enjoy teasing people or anything in the first place…" Kagami actually mentioned staying somewhat serious while saying those words.

"S-So…" Hiyori was confused again because her words didn't match up with her experience at all.

"Sorry about that~. It's true, though. You can ask Sojiro if you want. Well, when he's back, that is…"

"Wow, wow… WOW!" Her excitement was about to go through the roof. "How awesome is that?! I can't believe it! I've always dreamed of doing something like that since I started drawing manga. Wow… If things go well, this might be my first ever professional published work…"

"Good for you, Hiyori…" Kagami was happy for her. "But, don't get too carried away if they really offer you to draw the manga." At the same time, she was worried what would happen once Hiyori is allowed to draw a serialized manga.

"It has to be all ages anyway, right?" Hiyori directly understood what she was implying.

"And that's a very fortunate thing for all of us…"

"Ah, Kagami-senpai, can you tell me a couple more details? I want to be prepared as good as possible for this opportunity."

"Hmm… Sorry, I'm too busy with studying for my entrance exam ever since summer break that I never asked for details. I only overheard that they're planning to adapt the first volume as start and judging by how popular it's going to be, they're likely to continue the adaption. But, I think that's the normal way to handle these kinds of things anyway…"

"Aww, too bad~." Hiyori didn't look that disappointed, though. "Well, I just have to do my best then. It's my dream ever since I started drawing manga after all. Not doing my best isn't an option anyway. Also… Thanks to _them_ , I feel like I should be drawing more… safe works anyway…" Hiyori pointed at the other side of the table where Minami and Yutaka were busy reading manga the entire time while the two were talking. Upon closer inspection, Kagami saw that it was all works of Hiyori, and not even half of them were actually _suitable_ for Minami and Yutaka. Hiyori was still wondering where they get their endless supply of them, but she had given up on stopping them from reading at some point because the effort was futile.

"Ahh… I see…" After looking at the two reading some rather _intense_ manga with great joy, Kagami felt some sort of sympathy towards Hiyori.

Once Hiyori calmed down from her excitement over a possible serialization, and Yutaka, together with Minami finished reading their manga, the group chatted a little more about various things until early evening when Kagami finally decided to head home again. She didn't come over because she was bored and lonely at her place after all. She came for an important reason to Konata's house so it couldn't be helped, but she totally forgot about taking those much-needed study books with her in the end. Taking home her summer clothes was even completely forgotten about.

The first years stayed a little longer and kept chatting until Hiyori remembered something.

"By the way, do you really not know what Konata-senpai's up to, Yutaka?" She guessed that Konata was planning something and told her to keep it a secret.

"No, I really don't know about it. Konata-oneechan hasn't told me anything. Although, I'm fairly sure that she's indeed planning something, something big on top of that. For some reason, Konata-oneechan is really happy and bubbly since last weekend."

"Heh~? Looks like things keep being interesting when it comes to the two, huh?" Hiyori didn't know what's going to happen, but she was already looking forward to it.

The three passed some more time with random things, but because it was getting late, Hiyori and Minami had to leave soon enough as well. After she was alone, Yutaka went to the kitchen to make some dinner for herself before heading back to her room again.

…

A couple hours passed, it was actually the middle of the night already when the entrance of the Izumi house became lively again. Sojiro and Konata had just arrived at home again and were still busily discussing various things.

"No way, I didn't like the second one at all, dad…"

"What? It was way better than the third apartment if you ask me." After getting rid of their shoes and jackets in the hallway, the two walked into the kitchen while continuing their discussion.

"Well, that one wasn't hard to surpass… The third one was utter trash, especially for the price that guy was asking for, so was the fourth one…"

"Then, what about the very first one we visited? That apartment looked pretty decent to me…" Sojiro looked pretty worn out. Konata apparently rejected quite a few apartments already.

"Hmm… That one was… _okay_ , I guess… It's pretty far from college, though… If I'm moving already, I don't want to use public transport for about 20 minutes just to reach the college…"

"Hoh~, finally a reasonable argument, huh? Looks like we're finally making progress now." According to his look once more, Sojiro had endured a lot of unreasonableness from Konata today.

"I really liked the last apartment we visited. Actually, I would say that's the one. It's super close to the college, not even a five-minute walk on foot, and everything of importance is close by as well."

"Yeah, that manga and anime store right around the corner had a really big selection of basically everything."

"Well… Hehe… Okay, jokes aside…" Neither of them really looked like they were joking in particular, but Konata wanted to stay serious and actually meant things like convenience stores or supermarkets. "The apartment itself also is really nice. I quite liked the layout of it."

"That's true. Okay, the apartment's maybe a bit too big for two people, but the price is reasonable enough to compensate for it. Also, it's perfect for you that they want to start renovating it next month, even installing some new A/Cs in the rooms."

"Yeah, thanks to the renovating taking some time, the realtor guy said it's possible to reserve the apartment until March because that's the earliest date to move in anyway. It's almost like it's made for Kagamin~ and me, don't you think, dad?" It seemed like Konata had made up her mind about the apartment search.

"Yes, I think so, too." Sojiro agreed with her decision. "It's a really nice apartment."

"I hope Kagamin~ will like it as well."

"That shouldn't be an issue. Speaking of which, when do you plan on telling her about all that?"

"Hmm… Christmas is soon, right~? I'll go all out and invite her to an overnight, or two, to Yokohama and… Well, I'm still working on the details."

"You sure don't operate on a small scale, do you?"

"Never did, and never will."

Both of them kept discussing a couple details for a while until another person suddenly showed up in the kitchen.

"Konata… oneechan…?" Sleepily rubbing her eyes, Yutaka appeared out of nowhere while letting out a big yawn.

"Oh, Yu-chan… Sorry, did we wake you up?"

"Hmmn…" She was still half asleep.

"Sorry, we didn't plan on being so loud…"

"No… It's fine… Where were you two until now, by the way…?" Yutaka's brain slowly started working again.

"Umm…" Konata wasn't sure what to answer. "We… We had some college things to do… In preparation when I'm going there next year…" Konata didn't want to lie to Yutaka, so she simply kept it vague. It's not like she doesn't trust her, but fewer people knowing about a secret is always a good thing.

"Oh, I see." Either because she's a good girl, or still incredibly sleepy, Yutaka didn't pry any further than that. "Ah, I almost forgot, Kagami-senpai came over today."

"Really, why?" She knew that I wasn't at home today."

"Ehm… What was it again…?" She had completely forgotten about the excuse Kagami made. "I think she wanted to get a textbook or something like that. She spent half a day with us then, though…"

"Ah~, she was bored, I see…" Konata tried to hold back her chuckling at how obvious her girlfriend had acted just by listening to Yutaka.

Because Konata was interested in it, she attentively listened to Yutaka's explanation on how the first years and Kagami spent the day, and the more Konata heard, the more obvious it became to her that Kagami really was only terribly bored and maybe even a little lonely and simply wanted to kill some time. Sojiro was already gone, and the two finished chatting as well after some time and headed upstairs to their rooms as well and the day ended with that.

Apart from the usual studying with Kagami, Konata was even busier than usual for the next weeks because she had a lot of planning for Christmas to do. Kagami became increasingly suspicious of her and launched quite a few _attacks_ on her, but Konata managed to stay strong until Christmas.

* * *

….

.

Surprise, Konata wants them to live together. I'm sorry for being so predictable. Well, not really, actually… The story is made for fluff, not meaningful plot twists~.

Poor Kagami, in the end, she did forget bringing home her much-needed textbook. She wasn't lonely after all. Konata will make it all up next time.

The part of Hiyori possibly doing the manga adaption of Sojiro's novel series was totally a spur of the moment thing. I have a few ideas, but I'm not yet sure what I'm going to do that yet. I'm trying to introduce new plot here and there to keep the story alive because I have no idea how to continue the story once the main group enters college, but I don't want to end it there yet. That's why I'm adding things here and there that can be used for something later on.

The next chapter is about Christmas… or at least happens around Christmas story wise and judging by this chapter, it's pretty easy to guess what's going to happen. The initial plan was to release the chapter a few days after Christmas. The 'draft' is already fully done, and the chapter itself is also 1/3 to halfway done so it shouldn't be a problem timewise. (I'm feeling the chapter's going to be pretty long so I better promise nothing, actually... Maybe I _do_ have to rush myself... It's already longer than this chapter, but not nearly done...) Then, I had a short idea for New Year… Depending on things, next Chapter will be released shortly after Christmas as planned, or it'll be released a week later, but then includes the new year. I don't know that yet.

Random rant: We just had the first snow a couple days ago around here (luckily didn't stick, tho) and I'm a little jealous of those neets because I don't want to leave the house as well anymore... Actually, no, I just want to hibernate until spring... The cold sucks so much... I'm totally with Konata o that.

Interesting to know this time: Last chapter, I broke the 300 000 words wall and a little after that, the story passed 30k views and getting close to 31k one now. Sure, compared to other fandoms, that's nothing, but for a lucky star story, I think it's quite good. Monthly views dropped a fair bit after changing the story to M-Rated, but that's fine because I can write more open now.


	44. Christmas surprise

Time went by in a flash and Christmas was right around the corner. Actually, it was the morning of Christmas eve already. Thanks to the girls being on winter break, Kagami had spent the last couple days entirely at Konata's place as usual. Those days weren't easy for her, though. She knew that Konata had something planned for their Christmas, but no matter what she tried, and she tried a lot of _things_ , Konata simply wouldn't tell her anything. Thanks to that, Kagami just couldn't help having a bad feeling about it. Today, on the morning of Christmas Eve, that feeling just got a lot worse. Thanks to the fact that Konata had ordered to pack a bag with clothes, and the _small_ detail that they had left early in the morning, headed to the station, Kagami had made the bold guess that the two are going on a trip. Even then, Konata didn't say a single word and stayed silent on the matter. She was in no way enjoying the sight of Kagami being all fidgety and confused, though.

Once they arrived in Tokyo and entered the Shinkansen, Kagami finally had absolutely no idea what was going on anymore, but the bad feeling in her stomach continued to faithfully grow with every single passing minute. She was also becoming increasingly impatient over the 45-minute-long train ride because Konata wouldn't talk about their destination at all. But, once the train stopped at a station with a very familiar sounding name and Konata finally gave out the little detail that they're getting out there, Kagami's impatience and the bad feeling was instantly blown away. The couple left the train and now stood inside the central station of Yokohama.

"Okay… I wasn't expecting this…" She was positively surprised by the situation and looked around the station with a smile."

"Ehehe~. Looks like my surprise was a success, huh?"

"Yeah, it really was. Good job, Kona. So, what are we doing in Yokohama?" She was happy being here again, but that didn't mean she understood anything now.

"Okay, let me rephrase it… Looks like part one of my multilayered surprise festival is a success, huh~?"

"Ko~na~…" Kagami didn't like her answer and became just a _little_ intimidating.

"Fine…" Intimidating is _surprisingly_ effective. "We're going to stay in a hotel here, have dinner in a restaurant in the evening, and tomorrow… we're going to explore the area a bit…?" The last part sounded more like a question because she wasn't sure what to say without letting out details of her real plan. "I thought it would be nice to get a little familiar with some places around the college beforehand." She hasn't told a single lie that way. Konata just left out some _minor_ details and kept it ambiguous.

"Heh~, I see…" Kagami did feel that Konata was still hiding something, but the general plan didn't sound bad at all, and because she felt that Konata really put some effort into this, Kagami kept it at that for now.

Once Kagami seemed somewhat satisfied with the situation, the two finally left the station and started walking towards their hotel. It was located somewhat in the middle between the station they just left, and their soon to be college. It involved a fair amount of walking, but the couple was looking forward to seeing more of the city. Coincidentally, the area the group visited last year on golden week when Miyuki won the trip to Yokohama in a lottery, was in the complete opposite direction, so everything the two were seeing now, was a fresh experience for them. While they were walking around on the streets, the two got a first glimpse of the city's effort in creating a festive Christmas mood. Almost every building and shops, as well as the streetlamps and trees, were generously decorated with, mainly green and red, Christmas ornaments. But it was still bright outside, so it wasn't that impressive yet because the lights weren't turned on. Even so, both of them were having a lot of fun just by looking around. Especially Kagami was extremely excited because this city is going to be her new home starting in spring and she's been looking forward to that for quite a while already. Konata naturally was excited as well, and after half an hour of leisurely walking around, the two arrived at the hotel she had chosen to stay at. The couple went to the counter, and Konata checked in. The hotel employee confirmed her reservation, a two-night stay for two people with included breakfast and handed over the key-card for their room. While they were walking towards the elevator, Kagami had a slightly confused look on her face.

"Kona… Why are we staying for two days?"

"Our schedule for tomorrow is pretty packed, so I thought adding another night wouldn't be a bad idea where we can relax a little."

"I see, that's reasonable. Kona… Why is our schedule packed?! Didn't you say we're just going to walk around and look at the surroundings near the college?" The bad feeling Kagami was having lately suddenly came back because Konata's answer sounded rather ominous.

"W-Well… There are lots of… _things_ we're going to look at…"

"Kona~, what exactly are those _things_?" The intonation was very important to her.

"O-Oh, look, there's our room…" Konata tried to divert her attention and quickly entered the room. Compared to the place they stayed in on their anniversary trip a couple months ago, this one was more than just a few steps behind. Sojiro didn't generously pay this time after all. It was still a pretty cozy room, though, and Konata's focus was on something else this time anyway. After all, they're not going to spend that much time in the room, and so she merely got one with a big bed, a single one of course, and a spacious bathtub. Kagami slowly followed her, and once the two finished unpacking their stuff, both threw themselves on the bed and relaxed for a while. This pattern was nothing new, and they almost indulged into the usual cuddling once they enter a bed together, but Kagami barely managed to stay strong.

"So, about tomorrow, Kona…" She naturally hadn't forgotten about the earlier topic.

"Come one, Kagamin~, no one likes women that are prying this much."

"Shut up and give me at least another detail or something."

"Like I said, it's a… complex surprise… I worked hard to plan what's going to happen, so I don't want to tell you yet." Konata had almost reached her goal of successfully surprising Kagami. Backing down wasn't an option anymore.

"Ahh, come on, I'm worried, you know? A little hint would be okay, wouldn't it?"

"Fine… Aside from walking around, you'll also be getting your Christmas present tomorrow."

"E-Eh…?" Hearing that, Kagami suddenly froze up. "W-Wait, what do you mean by that? The whole trip over Christmas, which already is way over the top, isn't your present?!" She was shocked by this revelation.

"This trip, my present…? Nonono, the trip is just there to help my surprise for tomorrow because it takes a fair amount of time. Think of it as a side quest that is needed to advance the main story, Kagamin~."

"O-Oh… Is that so…?" Completely ignoring Konata's slightly odd comparison, Kagami was having a hard time. The already bad feeling changed into an even worse one. It wasn't fun at all, and she really didn't like this trend of continually having a bad feeling lately.

"I hope you're happy with this much detail, Kagamin~?"

"Well… For the sake of my mental health… and sanity, I'll keep it at that…" It actually made things much worse if anything. "That being said, after everything I've heard, I'll be giving you my Christmas present after I saw you yours…"

"Eh, why?"

"I'm quite confident with my present for you, Kona. Thanks to the superior bad feeling you're giving me, I need to make sure earned that present first after all."

"That's super mean, Kagamin~." Even though it was obviously faked, Konata started pouting.

"Shut up, idiot, you're the last one I want to hear that from right now!"

"Ehehe~. Okay, I get where you're coming from, and I admit that it's usually a good idea when it comes to my plans, but trust me this time, Kagamin~, you'll be regretting giving me your present after mine. There's no way your present is going to be even close to mine."

"We'll see about that~." The two were being as competitive as usual, and so the topic was off the table for a while. Unfortunately, Kagami had no idea she made a big mistake at this point.

Once the problem, including the bad feeling, was tossed aside once more and they still had more than enough for their dinner date in the evening left, Konata and Kagami finally indulged in some quality cuddling. Thanks to that, the remaining time passed in a flash, and the two already need to get ready to leave or the evening. They dressed up a little bit and then left the hotel.

…..

While strolling once more through the city, the two arrived at the restaurant after a short walk and entered it. The couple was guided to their table, and for the next two and a half hours, both enjoyed a very nice and romantic dinner together. Once Konata and Kagami finished eating, they continued where they left up when arriving in Yokohama and looked at the decorated streets again. It was already after dusk and thanks to that, the roads were now illuminated in colorful lights by all the Christmas decoration around.

While they were aimlessly wandering around, merely following everything that piqued their interest, the two somehow ended up at a park. As one would expect from a park in the middle of a vast city, it wasn't overly big, but it was well tended and looked really lovely. It naturally was decorated to create a Christmas mood as well, but compared to the colorful streets, the park was a lot subtler and tastefully decorated, creating more of an elegant look. The trees were adorned with a few snowflakes while being illuminated by a faint blue light and the streetlights along the trail in the park were decorated with garlands.

While the two were walking around, they noticed that the park was rather empty and only a few other couples were around. Being swept up in the Christmas mood, those couples were way more intimate with each other than usual in public. All of them were either holding hands while strolling through the park, were entirely clinging to each other, or were cuddling on the benches together. Not wanting to lose to them, Kagami and Konata got a little more lovey-dovey as well and also started holding hands. Not only that, but Konata also began clinging to Kagami's arm after a while as they continued to walk through the park. Thanks to the fact that the other couples were too busy with each other while entirely not caring about their surroundings, Konata and Kagami didn't have to care about getting weird glances and the likes. Then again, it's Konata and Kagami, they never wasted a thought on those kinds of things anyway. Both of them never cared much about others when it came to their relationship after all, or rather, the two were so bad at hiding it so that they never had much of a choice in the first place. Just like that, both continued to walk around while taking in the sight and started chatting at some point.

"That's our first Christmas in Yokohama, huh?" Even though it was something obvious, Konata had just noticed it.

"First out of many more, Kona." Kagami looked happy while she gave Konata's hand a gentle squeeze.

"Hehe, that's true."

"We're actually going to live here, aren't we? Once we get accepted, and college starts in spring, we really are going to live here…"

"You really are looking forward to it, huh, Kagamin~?" It was easy for Konata to notice her excitement.

"Of course I am! Isn't it awesome that we're going to live together here, Kona? Well, it's still in the dorm, but you get what I mean, right?"

"W-Well, yeah… sure… It surely is going to be awesome…" Konata was having problems with her answer. They aren't going to live in the dorm, but Kagami didn't know that yet. While the two continued to chat about college and other things, Konata tried her best to not accidentally leak her surprise, and the two finally left the park after a while. Walking along the brightly illuminated streets again, Kagami suddenly noticed a bakery that was selling Christmas cakes in front of their store and stopped there.

"Oh, those cakes look pretty good, don't they?"

"You're right, how about we get one, Kagamin~?" Konata knew perfectly well what her real intention was, but she didn't feel like teasing her. Being the considerable girl she is, Konata also ignored how Kagami secretly tried to gulp down her saliva without her noticing.

"S-Sure, if that's what you want, we could get one…" Kagami still had her moments where she was unable to be honest, mainly when food is involved nowadays, though.

"Okay~, let's buy one." After getting the cake, the couple slowly started heading back to their hotel, but because they weren't in a rush, the two kept chatting while looking at a few more things in the city on their way.

"Hey, Kona, is it just me or is this Christmas pretty similar to our last one?" Kagami had just noticed it, but just as last year's Christmas, the two went to the city, had dinner in a restaurant, looked at colorful Christmas decorations, and bought a cake at some random bakery at the end. The only thing that was different was the location because last time they went to Tokyo instead of Yokohama.

"Yep, you're right about that. Because I placed all my effort into tomorrow, I couldn't plan much for Christmas… Next year, I'll leave it to you~."

"Nonono, I wasn't complaining in the slightest, you know?! I just realized it now. I'm having a lot of fun here!"

"I see, that's good then." Konata was relieved that recycling last year's Christmas wasn't a wrong choice.

"Still, _tomorrow_ again, huh…?"

"Ah, look, we're already back at the hotel again!" Getting incredibly lucky with the timing, the couple had already arrived back at their hotel, and Konata had a way to divert her attention. The two went to their room, and once they had made themselves a little more comfortable, both began eating the cake they bought earlier.

"Oh~, the cake's pretty good." Kagami tasted a piece of it and liked it.

"You're right, it's delicious. Well, it doesn't hold a candle to Tsukasa's stuff, but I don't think I'll ever eat anything better anyway…" Konata liked the cake as well, but Tsukasa had spoiled her with her own sweets too much already.

"Yeah… That's true…" Kagami knew perfectly well what she was talking about. "Still, I think the bakery is worth adding to our list."

"You mean the list of places and stores worthy to visit again once we're living in Yokohama you started earlier, Kagamin~?"

"Yep. Well, it's the first and only bakery we visited, but I think we can put it on the list for now."

"Sure, we first need to find a better bakery to beat this one in the first place. So, what else did you put on the list?"

"Hmm… The park for starters. I liked it there, and I want to see how it looks in spring when the cherry blossoms are blooming."

"Hey, let's invite the others over then and have a flower viewing party there."

"Oh, that's an excellent idea. Let's do that, Kona."

"What else?"

"Let's see… There were a couple stores that piqued my interest, but they were all closed already so I have to wait until next time until I can check them out…"

"Well, we won't have time for it tomorrow, but sure, let's do that eventually… Ah…" She just noticed that she accidentally mentioned tomorrow again.

"Just what is going to happen tomorrow?!" Kagami actually didn't want to ask again, but it was impossible for her to hold back after all.

"Like I said…"

"Yeah, yeah… It's a surprise and all…" She had heard it more than enough already. "But, you see~, in the end~, I'm just getting more and more curious about it~." Kagami's eyes suddenly started glittering as she approached Konata.

"H-Hey…" She didn't exactly know what was going on, but it now was the time for Konata to have a bad feeling.

"Really~ curious~." Kagami got even closer with her sparkling eyes and pushed Konata down on the bed behind her. She then climbed on top of her and lowered her head to whisper something into Konata's ear. "If you tell me now, something _nice_ is going to happen, you know~?" Her voice was incredibly sweet, and Konata started sweating because her will began to waver. But, right before she gave in to the temptation, Konata started fighting back.

"W-Wow… you almost had me there, Kagamin~… In return for your great effort, let me do something nice and sweet instead~." She lifted her head and gave Kagami a passionate kiss on the lips while wrapping her arms around her neck, making Kagami unable to move away.

From there on, things got a little messy. Kagami didn't want to be on the receiving end this early because she started the whole thing with an objective in her mind. Finally pushing her away after a while, Kagami managed to get on the offensive again and before Konata new it, her clothes were already flying through the air. Kagami only thought to have the full advantage, though, because Konata could make a career as a magician. Feeling a slight chill all of a sudden, Kagami realized that her own clothes were also flying through the air. At best, they became equal again, but it was only a minor setback for her, and she continued like nothing happened. Even so, her competitive side was on fire now. She was able to push Konata down again and immediately started showering her entire body with kisses. Kagami managed to stay on top for a while, but Konata felt like it was time for a change of pace. She started kissing Kagami's body as well, and because she perfectly knew all those little weak spots on her body, Kagami was quickly losing her strength once she was under attack. Using this chance, Konata was able to get on top again, and everything started from the beginning. Konata had fun for a while on top of Kagami, but knowing all the weak spots of her partner wasn't exclusive to her. Kagami had an equal knowledge of her after all. Not hesitating to use said knowledge, another change of roles was quickly made. Needless to say, the two weren't merely changing positions the entire time, and lots of other enjoyable things were done, but precisely that was the reason why Kagami had a big problem right now, a problem she wasn't even aware of. Her initial goal, getting the information about what's going to happen tomorrow out of Konata, was utterly forgotten somewhere along the way. She was completely focused on what was on top, below, in front or anywhere entirely else from her. It was still Konata she was focused on, but the objective she was after had changed entirely after all. To be more precise, having _fun_ became the only important objective.

….

The two had continued to thoroughly test their hotel bed for a while, and before they knew it, Konata and Kagami woke up on the morning of the next day. Needless to say, Kagami never found out what was going to await her today. Like usual, when the two are sleeping together, whether it was just _sleeping_ or something more, they started their day fancily late because Kagami's _bad_ habit of being unable to wake up when Konata's around was the same as usual. Once the two finally managed to leave the bed, they got ready and to the hotel own restaurant and had a late breakfast. It was nothing too fancy, but because it was a buffet style breakfast, neither of them had any problems to find something to their liking. While the couple was enjoying their food, Kagami suddenly remembered something and gasped.

"Ah! I totally forget about making you speak about today!"

"Yeah, that's really no good, Kagamin~. I'm worried about your future if you always keep losing your concentration on your target so easily~."

"H-Hey… Uh… I… S-Shut up!" She had nothing to say in her defense because Konata had a point.

"That being said, please don't change, okay?" Obviously enough, Konata liked that part of her, especially when it leads to something like last night.

"I suspect that you'll _also_ never change, right?" She more or less confirmed in a roundabout way that she won't try to better herself either.

"I'm not planning on. I'm perfectly fine with my current self after all."

"I see… Well, that's fine, I guess…" Staying true to oneself isn't a bad thing. "Oi! Thanks to your distraction, I almost forgot about it again!"

"That's just unreasonable now, Kagamin~… Ah, I just said you shouldn't change… I guess it's not your fault then." Konata found the flaw in her suggestion.

"Hey, can I hit you? I can hit you, right? Please let me hit you just once, Kona~. I promise you that it won't hurt… _too much_ …" There was a dangerous glint in her eyes again.

"Eyes, Kagamin~, your eyes… Your true feelings are leaking out again!"

"Oh, sorry…" She wasn't sorry at all, it was on purpose after all. "So, what's going to happen today?"

"Just a little walking around the college and getting accustomed to the area~." Konata was already on the finishing line, so there was no way she would leak anything now.

"You sure are persistent, Kona."

"You're the last person I want to hear that from."

"Fair point. So?"

"Oi!"

"I mean, walking around isn't much of a present, you know? So we are doing something else as well, right? Just tell me about that part."

"Nope~. You'll have to wait a few more hours for your present.

"Haaa…" Kagami was super frustrated about the never changing answer of Konata because she was way too curious about it.

Once Kagami had lost another argument about the mysterious present, the two finally finished their breakfast and went back to their room. There, the two got ready to leave, mainly by putting on some warm clothes, someone really disliked the cold after all, and then went on their way to the first stop, their _soon-to-be_ college. The couple walked around for a while and arrived at the college after about 30 minutes later.

"So, this is it, huh?" The two were standing at the entrance of the campus area and looked around. "Quite impressive.

"It definitely is!" Kagami's excitement was already about to reach max level. "Let's go and take a better look!" She grabbed Konata's hand and dragged her onto the campus.

"An excitement Kagamin~ really is cuter than the normal one. About 32% cuter."

"What's up with that oddly specific number?! Anyway, what do you want to see first, Kona?" She didn't care much about it in the end because she was too busy with eagerly looking around.

"Hmm… How about we start with the least interesting thing?"

"Meaning the buildings where the lessons are held…?"

"That's my Kagamin~." It really wasn't a hard guess for her, though. Having decided on the first destination, the couple began walking towards the three, huge main buildings in the middle of the campus.

"The tallest one in the middle is for the law department and the two slightly smaller ones on the sides are for the computer-related studies and your business-related ones. If I remember right, the one on the left is for your business studies…"

"Heh~, so that's the place I'm going to suffer a lot in the future, huh?"

"That's a… very interesting way to look at it… Wait, I thought you like economics…?"

"I do, I really do… Economics isn't the problem here anyway…"

"Ahh…" Kagami understood what she meant. Konata isn't going to suffer because she's studying economics, but rather because of the other courses, she has to attend alongside it.

"Well, whatever…" She didn't seem to be too bothered by it in the end, though. "Anything else of interest?"

"Hmm…" Kagami looked around on the campus to find something else to explain. "See those smaller buildings behind the three main ones? Those are used for courses that aren't affiliated with the main departments."

"I see… So, if we have any courses there, we could end up being in the same, right?"

"Probably… It depends a little on our other courses and stuff, though."

"That makes sense. Still, it would be awesome if we could attend at least one of them together, right?"

"Absolutely, I would love to." Kagami agreed with her because she also would enjoy having a course together with Konata.

"That being said, that's about all we can look at here for now, isn't it?"

"We can still take a look at the dorm before leaving."

"Ahh, right… The dorms… How could I forget about them…" Konata tried not to be sarcastic about it, but she was failing at it. "Sure, let's take a look at them as well…"

"Okay~." Kagami was still in a cheerful mood, and so she didn't notice her sarcasm at all. After that, the two started walking towards the female dorm building at the side of the campus area and took a look at it.

"As expected, we can't enter, huh?" For some reason, Konata didn't sound or look sad at all when she read the notice at the entrance door that everyone except inhabitants are forbidden to enter."

"Looks like it… Too bad, but it can't be helped. I guess we have to wait until spring to get an actual look at the inside…"

"Y-Yeah…" Slowly but surely, Konata started feeling slightly guilty about leaving completely in the open when she looked so excited about basically everything including the dorms right. "W-Well then, let's get going, Kagamin~."

"Ah, sure~. So, are we getting closer to your surprise now?" Despite being overly excited about being at the college she's been looking forward to attend for quite a while already, Kagami didn't forget about the mysterious surprise of Konata.

"Just a little~. It's still a while until we're getting to that."

"You sure are dragging this out, Kona…"

"If you wouldn't ask about it at every single opportunity, it wouldn't feel like that…"

"Fair point… As if!" She just had to retort here, but she didn't feel like saying much more on the topic. "Well, whatever… Let's get going. The more time we waste on talking about, the longer it takes for the surprise to actually happen, right?"

"You finally understand, huh?" Once they stopped talking, the two continued walking again and left the college campus. After having left it, Kagami stopped again, turned around, and took a last look at it.

"I can't wait for spring! My dream to study here is getting closer and studying with you here, Kona makes it even infinitely better… Living here with you is an incredible bonus on top of it!"

"Y-Yeah… I'm looking forward to spring as well…" Looking at Kagami's innocent and honest smile, Konata began feeling even more guilty. "Maybe I should prepone it a little…" She only muttered those words to herself.

"Did you say something, Kona?"

"A-Ah, no, nothing. Let's get going already, Kagamin~." She denied her mumbling and urged her to move.

The couple finally left the college area for good and started wandering around the vicinity. It looked like there were wandering from one interesting place to another, but Konata was secretly guiding her into a specific direction die entire time. They only walked around for about five minutes before they already made their first stop. Once they came around a corner, a convenience store popped into view.

"Oh, it's cool that there's a convenience store so nearby."

"Yep, it's pretty convenient. Well, it's a convenient store after all."

"…" The pun was so bad that Kagami couldn't even look at her. "Are you proud of that…?"

"Waahhh!" Konata fell down on her knees in the middle of the street while hiding her face behind her hands because she was incredibly embarrassed. "I-I want to die!"

"N-Now, now…" Seeing her reaction, Kagami tried her best not to laugh at her. "You wouldn't want to die with a pun like that being your last words, do you~?"

"S-Shut up! Anyway…" She simply pretended it never happened. "You're right, having a convenience store sure is nice." While Konata was talking about a different _nearby_ , the distance between the college and the store was about the same as from their apartment to it, so she didn't lie.

"Hehe~. Ah, please wait a moment for me, okay?" She suddenly disappeared into the convenience store and left a confused looking Konata behind. A little over two minutes passed, and she came back again while carrying a small plastic bag in her hand. "Here, have one." Kagami grabbed into the bag and gave her a hot, still steaming meat bun.

"Thanks…? I'm not really hungry, though." She looked even more confused.

"Me neither, but meat buns are pretty good against the cold, aren't they? They equally warm up your hands while holding them and your stomach when eating them. You're bad with the cold after all, aren't you, Kona? Your little stunt on the cold street probably made it only worse, right?" Kagami really bought them for Konata and no because she wanted one. She really wasn't hungry or anything.

"You sure are sweet, Kagamin~. Thanks, I was actually feeling quite cold. If you ask me, we could skip right to summer… The cold sucks so much that I can't even put it into words."

"Summer, huh? So I can buy some ice-cream because you're no good with either, right?"

"T-The cold is worse, though!" Konata stuttered once because Kagami wasn't wrong at all.

"You sure are temperature sensitive… Well, it's not like I don't get your point…" After that, the two finally took a bite from their meat buns.

"Oh~, they're pretty good."

"It's true. Okay, this store goes right onto the list!" Kagami's list of places to visit again had just another point added to it.

While they kept munching on their meat buns, the couple continued to walk around the area. They found a couple cafés and a pretty big supermarket that carried about anything of need not too far from the convenience store and both were relieved that they don't have to walk far to go shopping among other things. Not that anything of this was new to Konata. She saw all that a couple weeks ago already after all. They also found a bookstore nearby, and after taking a quick look inside, Kagami was super happy about finding the store because it had a vast variety of books, including her beloved light novels. She might've been the most pleased about the bookstore amongst the places they found. Until now, that is.

…..

Once the two left the bookstore and walked a little more, the scenery around them slowly started to change. The stores and cafés were becoming less and less, and apartment complexes and ordinary houses became more prominent. Konata and Kagami entered a small park in the residential area after a while and sat down on a bench there while looking around all over the place. Kagami was naturally confused about why they suddenly entered the residential area and sat down on a bench in the middle of nowhere while being surrounded by apartment complexes.

"Kona, what are we doing here…?"

"Hmm… Taking a break…?" Her answer sounded more like a question than an answer. "The park has a relaxing feeling to it, hasn't it?"

"Yeah, it's nice here. It's like a small oasis in the middle of all those buildings. Just like a smaller version of the park we visited yesterday. Those are apartment complexes around us, aren't they? It looks like a nicely maintained area. I like it."

"I'm happy to hear that." Konata seemed relieved that Kagami had a favorable impression of the vicinity.

"Why are you happy about that…?" To her, it logically made no sense at all.

"Because… It's… Uhm… Eh…?" It was way too late for this revelation, but Konata had just realized that she had absolutely no idea how she should start the conversation about the _slightly_ complicated topic of the two living together, as in really together. Having that kind of problem is nothing new to her because Konata often forgot to think things through, she simply decided to get over with it as usual in a direct approach. "If you like it that much, how about living here in one of those apartment complexes together with me instead of the college dorm?"

"Ehh…?" It felt like she was missing something here.

"As you know, I really don't like the whole dorm thing, and so this would be perfect, wouldn't it?"

"Nonono, wait a moment, Kona… It's not that easy, you know?!"

"Well, want at least take a look?" Konata ignored her, got up from the bench, grabbed Kagami's hand, and started dragging her towards a _not so_ random apartment complex around them.

"Ehh…" Kagami was becoming more and more confused because she already had no idea what was going on anymore, but she also had no time to comprehend it because the two had already entered the building before she could say anything. Once they were in the lobby, Konata let go of Kagami's hand and let her behind at the entrance as she started walking towards the porter who was sitting at some sort of reception desk, almost like in a hotel.

"Hello, how can I help you?" The slightly elderly looking porter called out to her.

"Ah, yes… My name's Izumi Konata, and I have an appointment to visit an apartment today." Apart from having no idea how to start the topic, Konata _did_ have planned things out.

"I see, let me take a look…" He flipped through the pages of his appointment book that was lying on the desk. Once he found the entry and looked at Konata again, he suddenly started smiling. "Ahh~, I remember now… You were here with your father ago a couple weeks ago, weren't you?"

"Yep, that's me."

"So, that means…" He shifted his attention to Kagami, who was still at the entrance. "The utterly confused looking girl over there is your future roommate?"

"Yes, that's… Woah, she really looks confused… and it only keeps getting worse for a while…" She took a look at Kagami as well, but continued nonetheless. "Anyway, I'm impressed you remembered this as well."

"After you talked so much about her the last time, there's no way I would forget about it so soon…"

"Did I…?" Konata never noticed she talked that much about Kagami back then.

"You sure did. Still, you found yourself a cute roommate there~." The old guy working as the porter here was a bit of a pervert, but he was a nice one.

"I know~." Konata looked proud for some reason. Because she had deemed the elderly guy as not dangerous, they all are perverts, after all, she simply accepted the _compliment_.

"Well then, here you go." Once the two finished their small talk, he handed over the apartment keys to Konata, and she went back to Kagami.

"Shall we go, Kagamin~?"

"Ehh…?" She was still unable to say more than that. Seeing that, Konata grabbed her hand again and dragged her towards the elevator. The couple exited on the fifth floor, and after a short walk along the hallway, they reached their destination. Konata opened the last door on the floor, it was a corner apartment, with the key she had gotten earlier.

"Here we are, Kagamin~." Konata entered the apartment, got rid of her shoes at the entrance and naturally walked around as if she's living there already.

" _Where_ are we… Ehh…?" Kagami surely wasn't having it easy today. She had absolutely no idea what was going on anymore and had overall lost track about anything because way too much was happening at once. Konata came back to the entrance after a short while and completely ignored Kagami's condition.

"So, what do you think about the apartment? It's way better than the dorm, right?"

"I haven't seen anything yet, Kona." She ever left the entrance after all. "Wait, that isn't the point at all here!" She finally found some words again and immediately snapped because she had a ton of questions. "What the hell is going on here? Where are we?! Why are we here?! How did you even get in here in the first place?! How…" It seemed like she would go on like that for a while, so Konata quickly stopped her.

"This apartment is my answer to not wanting to live in the dorm." She had no intention of making it easier for her.

"I think I'll repeat myself, but it's not that easy, you know?! It's not like you can simply say that you don't want to live in the dorm and go to the next best apartment!" She was really busy with a lot of retorting lately.

"Don't be like that, Kagamin~. Now that we're here already, let's take at least a better look."

"Like I said, it's totally pointless doing something like that."

"Come on~." Konata wasn't backing down at all.

"Haa…" Kagami also noticed that there was no chance she would give up. "Fine… Well, maybe it can serve as an early reference for the future…" She reluctantly agreed and mumbled the second part to herself as some sort of justification.

"Yay!" Konata was happy with her answer and started showing Kagami around the apartment.

* * *

 **Author speaking: Because I'm not really good at making detailed descriptions, I made a rough floor plan of the apartment. Please take a look at it while reading the next part! Floor plan: www,imgur,com** **/892qTI8** **\- ( Exchange , for . ) I also tried adding the link to my profile (for easier copy/paste), but something's broken there, so I don't know if you can see the link there...**

* * *

They started with the toilet and bathroom right next to the entrance on the right side. There was obviously not much to say about the toilet, but the bathroom was worth a mention or two. There was more than enough room for two people to comfortable was each themselves, or in this case each other, and take care of all other daily necessities without trouble. The tub was also on the bigger side and could comfortably fit two people who could even stretch out a little in it. Not that the two would need much place in a tub, but it's nice to have. Behind the tub, there was a huge window for letting in fresh air and natural light. One of the many upsides of having a corner apartment, more windows than usual.

Leaving the bathroom again, the two entered the kitchen that was located right on the other side of the hallway, meaning on the left side coming from the entrance. Following the trend of the bathroom, the kitchen was also more than big enough to properly work in without ever having the feeling of it being cramped. The installed kitchen was slightly run down, it seemed like it was used a lot in the past, but as a part of the renovation work the apartment's undergoing soon, it'll get replaced by a new and modern one. On the wall that was facing the room next to it was a window hatch built in that also served as a counter. The room connected to it wasn't visible at the moment because the hatch had wooden accordion shutters installed to optically divide the rooms from each other.

After the kitchen, the couple took a look at the two rooms next to the bathroom on the right side. The first room, directly next to the toilet, was a little on the small side, but it got lots of natural light from the window at the opposite of the door. It was intended as a single bedroom because of the size, but the two will most likely find a different use for it.

The next bedroom was of much bigger interest. It was almost twice as big and let in even more natural light because it not only had the same window at the opposite of the door, but mainly because the room was connected to the apartment's balcony with another window and a glass door for entering it. It wasn't a square room like the smaller bedroom, but instead pretty wide and one of the walls stuck out a little into the room, probably because the room at the other side was using this extra space. This bedroom was of more significant interest because it was going to be their bedroom. There was no need for two bedrooms after all.

After leaving the bedroom again, they entered the last room on the opposite side of the hallway, the living room. After entering the room through a sliding door, the two could see the other side of the hatch and counter that connected to the kitchen. The room itself was also a little special. The main living room was about as long as the two bedrooms together, but it was actually an '┌ ' shaped room. The longer part of the room was just a simple room, but the smaller '┌ '- part, that was separated by paper sliding panels, was actually a traditional Japanese style room with tatami mats on the floor. This particular part was also the reason why the bigger bedroom had that one offset wall to it. The balcony was also accessible from the Japanese room, as well as the _regular_ living room because the balcony covered that entire side of the apartment.

Once they finished their tour, the two stayed in the Japanese part of the living room. While Kagami continued to look around all over the place because she was so fascinated and overwhelmed, Konata repeated her earlier question.

"It-It's super nice… I mean, _really_ nice, but… I don't understand the purpose… There's no way we're going to live here after all. It's way too expensive, to only say one argument…" Kagami liked the apartment as well, but she stayed realistically. Konata didn't care about such things, though, and completely ignored her concern.

"Do you _want_ to live here, together with me?"

"I would love to, there's nothing I would like more than that, but like I said…" She wanted to remind her that it isn't possible, but Konata interrupted her again.

"Okay, it's decided then, we're going to live here!"

"H-Hey, are you listening at all to me, Kona…? We can't afford to live here!"

"Kagamin~, do you remember the 10 Million ¥ I got from selling those anime figures a few months ago and how I haven't spent anything of that?"

"Ah… W-Wait…" Kagami seemed to remember and then froze up because she wasn't expecting this to come up now.

"Merry Christmas, Kagamin~, _this_ is my surprise I had for you." Konata spread out her arms and gestured at the entire apartment. Kagami should feel relieved now that she finally knew the secret behind the surprise, but she didn't feel better at all.

"K-Kona, are you serious…? N-no, you shouldn't spend all your money on this… Yes, I'm happy, really happy how you feel, but… But, you should save the money for the future. There always might be something you really want, but can't afford it then." Kagami thought she had a solid argument, but Konata only looked at her with a confused expression.

"So… You think that spending my _future_ together with you in the same apartment, this apartment, is not something I want? What else could I spend the money on to make my _future_ any better?" She took great care in emphasizing the right words.

"Uhh…" Kagami turned silent again because she had nothing to retort on that argument of hers. She couldn't think of anything better either. "But, is it really okay for you to spend everything? I would feel awful for living here for free, you know?"

"Oh, don't worry about that, there's an easy solution for this problem~."

"Eh? What do you mean, Kona?"

"You're going to be a lawyer in the future, right? They earn quite a bit of money, don't they? Once we're going to earn real money, the next apartment, or house, that's totally up to you, is going to be your responsibility~." She said that as a joke because she's entirely okay with paying for the two of them, but a good idea is a good idea, and her eyes looked just a little like she really meant it for some reason.

"Kona… are you… are you actually serious…? You are planning that we're going to live here together…?" Kagami finally seemed to have realized that the whole situation is real.

"I don't have much room left to get even more serious, you know?"

"W-Wow…" She wasn't sure how to react to Konata's plan because the scale was too big for her to properly give an answer on the spot. About five minutes in silence passed when Kagami suddenly walked a few steps and started twirling around in the living room with a big smile on her lips while taking in the sight of the apartment. "Kona, I still don't entirely get what's going on, but I would gladly live together with you here.

"I see… Ehehe~." Konata began smiling as well because she got the answer she was looking for. The couple continued to smile like idiots for a while until Kagami remembered something else.

"Wait a moment… It's nice and all, but we can't just decide to live on our own here just like that, can we…? We have to ask our parents first, you know?"

"Ah, no, that's okay~. My dad and your parents already know about it after all. After a bit of explaining and a little convincing, they're all okay with it. Actually, they're even taking over a big part of the cost, so I don't have to spend everything of my 10 Million ¥. I'll have about half of it left to spend on other things… mainly furniture… _and manga_ …"

"H-Huh…?" She had just recovered a little from the shock, but the confused looking expression on her face quickly returned to her face in full glory. "W-What are you talking about, Kona…?"

"Right, you don't know anything because of the surprise after all… You see…" Konata had forgotten for a second that she didn't know about anything and started explaining everything that happened in the past weeks. She told her about how she got the idea of living together, how she proposed the idea to their parents, and how she went with her father to Yokohama in order to look for a suitable apartment. All while trying her best to keep it a secret from Kagami because she wanted to surprise her.

"Ahh… So that's why you were behaving so oddly lately… It finally all makes sense. Wait… WHAT?!" Kagami finally understood Konata's suspiciousness, but at the same time, she really didn't understand anything at all anymore. "Y-You really did all of this beforehand so that we can live together here?" She couldn't believe Konata did all that without her ever realizing.

"I sure did~."

"Impressive…" There was no other word to say.

"Ehehe~."

"But, even with all that planned out, there's no way an apartment like this, in such a good area, is still available in spring when we're going to start college." Kagami had noticed yet another problem.

"Worry not, Kagamin~, that's also already taken care of. Have you noticed how the kitchen, for example, has seen better days already? Starting next month, this apartment's going to be renovated- They're going to install a new kitchen unit, new A/Cs in the rooms, and a couple other things that are getting replaced or fixed up. Thanks to that, I was able to get a reservation for the apartment until March. We have our entrance test in February and also get our results then. We would be ready to move in here in March after we both got accepted.

"R-Really…?" Hearing her explanation, Kagami couldn't help losing a bit of her energy and leaned against the wall and slowly slid down on the floor. "I-I can't believe you sorted all that out already… You are amazing, Kona."

"Hehe." Konata was proud of herself while giving out a _praise-me-more_ aura, but Kagami didn't feel like doing so and suddenly started complaining out of nowhere.

"That's sooo unfair, Kona~!"

"Eh…?" That was not the response she had expected.

"It's unfair that you planned all this on your own… I wanted to be involved in a decision like that, you know? It's _our_ future after all…"

"Haa… You're such a piece of work, Kagamin~, are you aware of that?" Konata let out a sigh and then sat down on the floor next to her and leaned against the wall as well. "I just thought it would be a nice surprise..."

"Man, it's impossible to stay mad at you…"

"I'm sorry, Kagamin~. I wasn't planning on doing all that on my own, but I simply couldn't ignore such a chance to surprise you." While she apologized for her selfishness, Konata started leaning against Kagami's shoulder.

"It's fine… Actually, it was quite sweet of you, and I'm not really angry in the first place." She was a little disappointed for not being involved, but the happy feelings about Konata being so sweet were clearly stronger. While she leaned her own body against Konata as well, Kagami also grabbed her hand, and the two had their first cuddling session in their new, soon to be, home. The two enjoyed their intimacy and overwhelmingly happiness in silence for a while, but then began chatting again because Konata remembered another detail about the apartment.

"You know what else is interesting about this place, Kagamin~?"

"Hmm? There's even more?" Kagami had already heard a lot of interesting things today.

"There are pets allowed in here. Isn't that great?"

"Ehh…?" It was too much out of context for her to understand.

"You wanted to get a dog eventually, didn't you? Well, it was a tanuki, but we can't really keep one of those here…"

"Ahh…" Kagami remembered their summer trip to that forest lake where the group met the tanukis Tsukasa managed to tame. "I think we're going to be too busy with college, though. I'm not really sure we'll have enough time to keep a dog." She seemed to absolutely have nothing against the idea itself.

"You think so…?" Konata was a little disappointed about it.

"How about we talk about it again once we settled down here and see how busy the college is keeping us?" After all, she liked the idea even more than Konata did.

"Okay~." She was happy with the answer because there was not a single hint of Kagami saying no to it.

"Seriously though, how did you manage to do all that, Kona?" She still couldn't believe everything that happened.

"That's easy~. I'm good, that's how."

"Yeah, that makes sense." She didn't feel like retorting at the moment. "Wasn't it difficult convincing my parents, especially my dad? I still remember how hard it was after I told him that I want to study in Yokohama…"

"They were surprisingly okay with it overall. Well, I had some convincing arguments to make them warm up to the idea of us living together."

"Heh~, and what were those?"

"Mainly the benefits of living together like taking care of each other and things like that. Also, how you probably can't survive on your own because you can't even cook without me around."

"Oi!"

"As it turned out, your parents totally don't trust you at all with living alone. They were actually delighted and grateful that I'm willing to take you in because they failed at properly teaching you even the basics of household works… Their words, not mine, by the way…"

"Is that how they think about it~? I see~." She snapped a little. "It looks like I need to have a long and nice chat with my parents once I see them again~." She looked serious.

"D-Don't kill them, okay…? They're helping us pay for it after all…" Konata sent a silent prayer to Miki and Tadao and hoped she doesn't have to buy some flowers for their graves anytime soon.

"Nah~, they'll just suffer a _little_ bit~." Her eyes didn't look like a little at all.

"I-I see…" Maybe she _does_ have some flowers after all.

Once Kagami calmed down her anger to a reasonable amount, the two got up and went to the balcony of the apartment to take a look at the city that was nicely visible from there.

"Wow, you can even see the college from here!" While Kagami was looking around the buildings, she noticed a familiar looking area.

"Well, without all those detours we took earlier, it's only a five-minute walk from here to college."

"Ah, so the feeling of walking all over the place in an unnecessarily complicated manner wasn't my imagination, huh?"

"Yeah, I wanted to show you a couple interesting spots before arriving here first."

"This place is awesome! The college is nearby, and everything else of importance is close by as well. The apartment is beyond awesome, too!" Kagami was getting excited again, and Konata enjoyed watching how her eyes were shining and darted all over the place because she wanted to see everything at the same time.

"Such an adorable girl…" Konata unconsciously said that as she continued to watch her rather than the scenery, but Kagami suddenly started moving and faced her.

"You're the most awesome around here, though." She let out a stupidly cheesy line, grabbed Konata and kissed her out of nowhere. They were out in the open on the balcony, and it would be easily possible for other people in the buildings around them to see, but Kagami didn't care about that. She was simply so happy that about everything that Konata did that she just had to let out her feelings. Well, that was one side of the story. There was also a way more selfish reason involved. "So~, with that I have claimed our first kiss in our new home. Brace yourself, Kona, you may be the one who chose this apartment, but I'm the one who's going to claim every single first in here~." She still wasn't angry, but that didn't mean she isn't going to get _revenge_ on Konata for deciding all that on her own without even telling her.

"Sure, that's only… fair." Konata couldn't complain about being unfair at all, so she had to bear this cruel _punishment_. Not that she wanted to protest.

"A-ny-way…" Kagami's tone suddenly changed from teasing to an incredibly serious one. "Kona, you know that you already would've been in astronomical bug trouble before if you were to fail the entrance test for college, but now… after showing me all this, the future you planned for us to have together, you're in a way bigger pinch. Failing wasn't an option before because I would get _angry_ at you, but simply _angry_ isn't going to cut it anymore if you fail now. Something way more unfortunate would happen then."

"…" Konata couldn't say anything as she turned pale while having goosebumps all over her body. She knew that Kagami was quite good at intimidating, but she had just raised the bar to incredible heights. It was the first time Konata _really_ was afraid of her own life when looking at her. She maybe needs to buy some flowers for her own grave as well and not just for Kagami's parents. To make the situation even worse, Kagami suddenly started smiling out of nowhere.

"Well, there's no way that's going to happen anyways, right~?"

"Ahaha…" A dry laugh was the best answer she could muster. "K-Kagami-sama, how about we have an intense study session once we're back home?"

"Oh, that's a very nice idea, Kona. Let's do that." Being happy with her answer, she started smiling gently again, and Konata finally could relax a little.

…..

The couple left the balcony again, but spent some more time in the apartment. Starting with the living room, they actually began thinking about the placement of furniture and decorations in their minds already.

"So, what do you think, Kagamin~? The Japanese room is pretty easy… A low table and a few cushions in the middle and it's done already. Maybe a cupboard or two… Oh! We absolutely need a kotatsu, though!"

"Hmm… Hmm… Hmm…" Kagami took it very seriously and walked a few laps through the living room to get a better picture first. "Hmm… I definitely want a big sofa to relax on… Then, a small table in front of it, and…" She continued to walk through the room and looked for the best places to place them.

"Hoh~, a big sofa sounds very good, I'm in for that. Going by that means that on this wall over here…" Konata pointed at the wall in the opposite direction were Kagami was standing. "There, we'll place the biggest TV we can find."

"Let's stay a little more reasonable, Kona."

"Okay… The second biggest we can find…"

"We really have to go shopping for every single thing together in the future, huh?" She couldn't trust Konata making her own decisions on this.

"Ehehe~."

"We still have a lot of room left in here, don't we? This living room sure is big… I think we can make it a dining room as well. That would also make good use out of the hatch to the kitchen. We can place a table and a couple chairs where we can eat."

"Ah, I actually wanted to place some stools there and on the kitchen's side to make some sort of bar."

"Oh, that doesn't sound bad either. Maybe we can place the table a little further into the room?" Kagami liked the idea and rethought her own.

"That could work. We should take a few measurements next time to get a better overview." Once they had a rough idea of the living room, the two went the bigger one of the two bedrooms, but the planning for that was rather easy and quickly done.

"Okay, the bed's going to be there!" The couple had just entered the room and directly decided on a place for the most important thing as both pointed in the same direction.

"Well, that wasn't hard, huh?"

"It's the most important place for us after all, Kagamin~. It would be very weird if we didn't agree there."

"I kind of don't want to agree with that because it sounds a bit like I'm a pervert, but…"

"But it's way too late for that." Konata finished the sentence. Kagami maybe would've wanted to phrase it a little differently, but she stayed silent.

"We also should get some nightstands on each side of the bed, shouldn't we?" She completely stayed silent on the topic and ignored it. She then walked to a different place in the bedroom and continued. "I think here would be the best place for a big wardrobe if you ask me.

"Yeah, I thought the same. Also, at the other side…" Konata faced the opposite of Kagami. "… We could place a commode or something like that for other stuff." A rough plan for their future bedroom was made as well, and the couple went to the second, smaller bedroom right next to it.

"What are we going to do with this room, Kona? It's not like we need a second bedroom… A storage room wouldn't be a bad idea, or do you have something better in mind?"

"A storage room is one idea, but I kind of wanted to make a room for my PC and anime and manga stuff, if that's okay with you…"

"Oh, if that means that less of that stuff is flying all over the apartment, I'm more than okay with making such an otaku room. Oh, can I put some of my light novels in there as well? I, somehow, accumulated quite a lot of them over the course of time…"

"Sure, why not? It's a perfect fit for an otaku room after all. The ratio is going to be a bit weird, though, with 30% manga and 70% light novels, but that's okay." There was no way Konata wouldn't take this chance to tease her.

"I did that to myself, didn't I?" She silently began to accept that she's sort of an otaku as well with her light novels lately. Although, it's not like she's admitting that yet. "And, I don't have _that_ many light novels you know?!" She tried to save at least a bit of her dignity.

"I also want a wardrobe in there." It was enough teasing on that subject.

"Eh? What for?"

"For cosplay outfits, of course! You don't want them to put in our normal wardrobe, right?"

"That's true, good point. It's kind of embarrassing to have them between my normal clothes." A whole minute passed before Kagami finally realized what just happened. "Oi! What was that?!"

"What was what? We're going to live here alone… There's definitely a lot of cosplay going to happen."

"Ahh… I see…" While looking into the far distance, Kagami seemed to have accepted her fate. Not that she was _that_ against it, but this was a story for a different time.

The second, now former bedroom was somewhat planned out as well, and the rest of the apartment was of lower importance, so they decided to wait for the planning for that until next time. There were a few little arguments here and there about some minor details, but they mainly agreed with each other's ideas, and more importantly, both had the time of their lives while making those plans for their new apartment and future together.

More than just a couple hours had passed since Kagami and Konata arrived there, but after having played around enough for the time being, they finally decided to leave the apartment again. Both took a last look at their new home, and then went back to the lobby of the building. Konata gave the key back to the porter, and after saying goodbye to him, the couple restarted their tour through Yokohama in a super mood. It was already getting slightly dark, but neither of them cared about that.

…..

Their exploration came to an early stop, though. Not even two minutes passed since they left the apartment complex and Kagami stopped once she saw a very colorful store right around the corner. She looked at Konata with dubious eyes afterward, but she feigned ignorance.

"Heh~, so there's an anime and manga store nearby, huh…?" She wasn't very convincing.

"Kona

~…" It was obvious that she wasn't buying it. "Mind telling me the reasons why you chose this particular apartment again…?"

"Y-You see… It really was just a lucky coincidence, you know…?" It wasn't a lie, but she still started panicking regardless. "A-Actually, it was the last apartment we visited back then, and we only found this store _after_ we left the building…"

"Is that what happened? Well, the apartment is awesome, so I think I'll believe you, Kona."

"Good… Thank you, Kagamin~. Okay, pretty bad timing and all, but want to take a look inside?"

"Sure, why not?" Thankfully, she was still in an excellent mood from earlier.

"Yay~." Konata was happy, and the two entered the anime store. For some reason, she directly went to a somewhat important looking clerk near the checkout, though.

"Hello and welcome, how can I help you?" Sais clerk directly started talking to Konata the moment she arrived at the counter because he had already sensed her presence when she still was outside of the store.

"Ah, yes, I wanted to get a point-, or rather, membership card."

"Hoh~, that's rare, we usually have to advertise them first after someone buys something."

"Yeah, I'm the dedicated type."

"Oh, I like that attitude. Sure, may I ask for your name to put on the card."

"Of course. Well, I wanted to introduce me anyway because I'm going to be a regular here starting in spring. My name is Izumi Konata."

"Nice to meet you, Izumi-san. Spring means you're going to enter the college nearby?" He was a professional, so he didn't ask about the nearby middle school.

"That's the plan."

"I see. Does your friend need a membership card as well?" The clerk looked at Kagami, who was facepalming the entire time behind Konata.

"Nah, she'll use mine, if that's okay." She wanted to get the extra points.

"Yes, that's perfectly fine."

"Kona…" She finally removed the hand from her face and looked at her with cold eyes. "You introduce yourself to your new neighbors when moving, and not to your new anime store you're going to visit from now…"

"Don't be unreasonable now, Kagamin~."

"This is one of the few times I'm not, you know?"

"So you are aware of it after all, huh? Anyway, who do you think we'll see more often? Our neighbors or the insides of this store?"

"… Nice to meet you, my name is Hiiragi Kagami. Whether I like it or not, we'll be coming here rather frequently." Konata, unfortunately, had a convincing point where she had no comeback for because it was true.

"Y-Yeah, nice to meet you as well…" Professional or not, the clerk was already overwhelmed by the dynamic of his new customers. "T-The membership card will take a short while, but feel free to look around to your heart's content…"

"That's a good idea, let's go, Kagamin~." Both left the counter and started walking through the store for a while, and Kagami was seemingly happy with the light novel section here as well. She still preferred the bookstore the two visited earlier because the atmosphere was more to her liking there, but this store had a lot more variety of the not so mainstream books, which liked Kagami who has fun finding new gems. Konata took it easy while looking around. She already knew that this anime store was a good one after all. After the two had seen about everything, Konata guided her to the second floor, and she had a great time by enjoying Kagami's reaction because the second floor was a _little_ special. Almost the entire floor was filled with cosplay and cosplay related accessories and goods.

"Kona… You really visited this store after the apartment… right? You didn't find this store first and then looked for the nearest apartment… right?" Kagami naturally questioned Konata's choice of the apartment again because it was just too much of a coincidence.

"We can look at different apartments, you know~? Just let me tell you the other _nine_ ones I visited before were total… garbage is a good word them."

"N-Nine…? No, it's fine…" Kagami started believing that it really was just a coincidence. Besides, she had already fallen in love with the apartment Konata had chosen, so there was no way she's going to look for a different one now. Sighing, she dropped the topic and actually, mainly unconsciously began browsing through the displayed cosplay. Seeing that, Konata got super excited, disappeared between the shelves and was gone for a good while.

"How about you try these on, Kagamin~?" Almost ten minutes had passed before she reappeared again. Kagami almost didn't recognize her at first because she was carrying a mountain of questionable looking clothes with her.

"Oi, that's way too much at once!" Yes, that was her retort.

"By the way, have I already earned my right to receive a Christmas present from you, Kagamin~?"

"Eh? O-Oh…" She remembered the thread to give Konata her present only after she saw her surprise because she had a bad feeling about it back then. Now, on the other hand, she's the one in deep trouble because, no matter what her present is, there's no way she can get even near Konata. "That was a bad idea of mine, wasn't it…?"

"Remember, I tried to warn you, didn't I?"

"Yeah, you did… There was no way I could've expected something on a scale like that, though…"

"Soo… about my present. How about you get one or two… or seventeen of those to spice up your present a little~?" She held up the mountain of cosplay in her hands. "A cosplay show would be the ideal present if you ask me."

"E-Eh…? U-Uhm… N-No…" Kagami suddenly started acting suspiciously after she heard Konata's suggestion and awkwardly looked away before continuing. "I already prepared my Christmas present for you, Kona. Let's save _that_ cosplay for another time…"

"Aww… too bad. I hope your present can measure up to cosplay, though, Kagamin~."

"I-I'll try my best…" She looked even more awkward and tried to change the topic before Konata noticed her behavior. "A-Anyway, are we done here for now? I still want to see a little more of the city."

"Sure, my membership card should be done as well by now." The two went back downstairs to the clerk who handed over her new card. After saying goodbye to him, the couple left the store again and continued their exploration of the area.

….

The two started holding hands at some point and continued to walk around for half an hour without a care in the world. It started to get a little late, and so they decided to head back to the hotel after a while. Taking a slightly different route where even Konata wasn't before on the way back because they could've missed something interesting, the couple continued to hold hands while walking through the unfamiliar neighborhood. Looking around, Kagami suddenly found something that caught her interest. She stopped in front of a traditional Japanese sweets store and seemed rather happy about the fact that it was still open.

"Kona, how about go-…" Kagami wanted to suggest taking a look inside, but an earth-shattering sound interrupted her. As if it was waiting for it, her stomach let out a loud grumbling at the perfect time. "S-Shut up!" She wasn't talking with Konata right now.

"…" She wanted to laugh, she really wanted to laugh right now, but Konata barely managed to hold it in. "S-Sure… something sweets sounds pretty good right now." Having agreed with her, the two entered the store together.

"Welcome… Oh? Look at that, new faces~:" The couple was greeted by a friendly looking grandma that was sitting behind the counter. "I haven't seen you two around here before."

"Good evening… That's impressive, to remember the faces of all your customers."

"I may be old, but I would never forget customers as cute as you two." Not only was she nice, but she was also an incredibly smooth grandma on top of it. "No, my usual customers are mostly older and barely any young people are losing their way in here."

"Oh, yeah, that makes sense, I guess…"

"Yes, the young ones are more into western sweets nowadays. No one values tradition anymore…"

"I-I see… S-Somehow, I'm sorry…" Kagami felt a little guilty because she basically lives for chocolate, especially pocky. Not to mention the western style cake they had just yesterday.

"Kagamin~, you don't have to feel bad." She knew perfectly well what she was thinking about. "You may love chocolate the most, but anything goes for you as long as it is sweet, doesn't it?"

"O-Oi!" She wasn't sure how she should feel about Konata's remark, especially because she was kind of right with it. "Isn't there a better way to phrase it?"

"Ehm… You may be part of the problem, but by far not the main reason the nice grandma eventually has to close her store…?"

"H-Hey, how is that better in any possible way?!" If anything, she made it worse, way worse.

"Just so you know, little girl, business is booming and going great. I'm nowhere near having to close anytime soon." The grandma, although even smaller that Konata had already figured out how to handle her.

"Yeah, little girl, shut up." Kagami liked the grandma already.

"S-Sorry about that…"

"She doesn't mean any harm. Kona just likes to overdo it from time to time." Kagami apologized for her as well.

"Ahaha!" The grandma suddenly started laughing. "No need to be so stiff, girl. I was only messing with you. It's totally okay if you like western and Japanese sweets. Ah, I was about to close the store for today when you showed up earlier… Want to join me for a cup of tea while I show you the superiority of Japanese sweets?"

"Is that really okay…?"

"Sure, it's been a while since I had such nice and interesting customers of your age. I would like to talk a little more." The grandma seemed to have taken a liking to the couple as well.

"Sorry for imposing then, I guess…" Kagami had no reason to refuse and accepted her invitation.

"Sounds good." Konata was in as well.

The grandma guided them to a room in the back of the building and offered the two some dango [ _Japanese sweet made from rice floor_ ] she made for the store while she prepared the tea. Kagami didn't wait long and directly tried them.

"Wow, they're good!" Her eyes immediately started shining once she took her first bite.

"Well, thank you. I'm happy to hear that." The grandma finished preparing the tea and joined the couple.

"Oh, yeah, Kagamin~'s right." Konata tasted them as well. "You're good at this, grandma."

"Thank you as well, little one."

"Hey…" She didn't like being addressed like that. "Please call me Konata, okay? Izumi Konata is my name."

"Konata-chan, is it? Yes, that sounds better."

"By the way, I'm Hiiragi Kagami. Just Kagami is fine as well."

"Konata-chan and Kagami-chan, I'll remember that. So, what brings you two to my humble sweets store?" She was interested in the couple's story.

"Our story, huh? Well… Uh…" Konata wasn't sure where and how to start and secretly hoped that Kagami would take over for her. Luckily, she got the hint.

"Long story short…" She naturally had no intention to start from the very beginning. "Kona and I are planning to study at the college near this place starting in spring. We just took a look at our new apartment where we're going to live then. On the way back, we looked around the neighborhood and found your store here, grandma." She stuck to a rather short summary of the day.

"Hoh~, impressive dedication you're showing here. You two must be confident with your studies if you're already sure about entering the college here."

"W-We'll manage…" There was still some studying to do, especially for Konata when it came to different subjects other than economics itself.

"Well, I hope you'll fulfill your dream of getting accepted without problems." She was rooting for them.

"Thank you very much." The couple was happy about her support.

"Ah, speaking of the nearby college… I almost forgot, but my granddaughter also studies there."

"Eh… Really?" Kagami didn't see that coming. "What does she study?"

"Uh… What was it again… I keep forgetting the name of it. Computer… Computer… Well, something with those computer machines…" The grandma apparently wasn't good with technical stuff.

"C-Computer machines, huh…?" Konata wasn't sure how she should react to that.

"She started studying there back in spring and currently lives with me here because her parents had to move because of their jobs, but she didn't want to transfer to a different college."

"Oh, I can understand that." There would be no way for Kagami to transfer away after she started studying I her dream college after all. "Is she by any chance home right now? I would love to get some tips and info about the college from a senpai." It was an excellent chance so she would like to meet her.

"Sorry about that, but she's currently out, and I have no idea when she will be back. She wanted to spend the Christmas days with her partner."

"Aww, too bad… Well, maybe next time." It was a bit unfortunate, but it couldn't be helped.

"Yes, I'll definitely introduce her to you next time. I think you would get friends in an instant with her. Even though her preferences are totally bizarre, she's a really nice girl."

"H-Her preferences…?" She somehow didn't like the sound of that.

"Yeah, her taste is totally the other way from what we taught her… I totally can't accept the way she's thinking, but she's still a nice girl in every other regard so there's nothing I can do…"

"E-Ehm…" Kagami _really_ didn't like the sound of that now.

"I mean, she grew up with me, a specialist in making Japanese sweets and she doesn't like them! The only sweets she likes are all western ones!" For the grandma, it was a huge deal, but the couple looked incredibly relieved at the moment.

"You totally though she…" Konata started whispering.

"Don't tell me you didn't…" The two thought for a moment that the granddaughter was even more similar with the two, and the grandma had a problem with that, but it was luckily just a big misunderstanding on their end.

After recovering from the shock while munching on some more sweets, the trio kept chatting a little more, and the grandma had some interesting suggestions on which places the two should visit in Yokohama in the future. By the time the couple decided to leave, Kagami had almost tried every sweet of the product range from grandma's store and added it to the top of her list of places to visit again. It was getting late, and Kagami still had to present her Christmas present after all. Thanks to this, Konata had already become slightly nervous in anticipation. Before they left, the couple decided to buy a ton of her sweets and also got a lot of extra as a service.

"Well then, until next time, grandma~."

"Yes, see you soon, little one."

"H-Hey!" Konata still didn't enjoy being teased by a grandma.

"We'll definitely come visit again… and totally not just because of the sweets… I'm not sure when, though. It will either be on the day where we have our entrance test or in March when we're moving here at the latest." Kagami couldn't wait to visit the grandma again and totally not just to eat the sweets of her again.

"That confidence of yours sure is inspiring." She liked how there was not even a slight hint of them failing in their voices. "I'm looking forward to seeing the two of you again."

"Bye then." While waving their hands, the couple made their way back to the hotel without any extra stops because it had gotten rather late and Konata really wanted to see her Christmas present soon.

…..

The two arrived in their room without any distractions, but Kagami's present had to wait a little longer. Even though she was really curious, Konata insisted on taking a bath first because she had almost frozen to death on the way back to the hotel.

Both went into the bathroom, and after getting rid of their clothes, the two started washing each other's back and hair. For _some_ reason, they showed some _surprisingly_ skillful moves, almost as if they're used to this routine already. Once they finished washing each other, the two went into the already filled tub and started relaxing in the hot water.

"Haa~, such bliss~." Konata let out a happy sigh as she submerged herself in the water.

"Yeah~, it was a good idea to take a bath first… I've come back to live~." She seemed pretty happy as well. "Now, come here already." She grabbed Konata, who was moving around way too much in the tub and forcefully placed her between her legs.

"Ehehe~." Konata instantly calmed down with that, and while she was hugged from behind by Kagami, she pressed her body against her chest.

While the couple enjoyed the hot water and the feeling of each other's naked body pressing against one another, 15 minutes quickly passed. The two got out of the tub again, and after _thoroughly_ drying each other, Kagami suddenly urged Konata to leave because she had some preparations to be made for later.

"Okay, Kona, please go ahead and wait in the bedroom for me. Your Christmas present needs some preparation before I can show it to you…"

"Ehhh~? Now you're the one making me curious."

"I'll be ready in a couple minutes, so just stay put, okay?"

"Roger!" Konata saluted in front of her and then sprinted to the bedroom because she was really looking forward to it.

Konata waited in high tension and anticipation for about ten minutes until the door of the room opened again. Kagami entered the room, and once Konata's eyes fell on her, she died. Her heart stopped working, and everything was over. Even though it was a short life, she had no regrets and went to the afterlife with a satisfied smile after seeing Kagami.

As a result of her extreme reaction, Kagami started blushing because she was extremely embarrassed about the situation she was in. A couple minutes passed, and Konata miraculously revived from the dead again, but the revival wasn't complete because her eyelids and mouth still weren't working. Her mouth refused to close, and she was unable to blink for a while now already. Her brain had too much trouble processing the information it got from Konata's eyes and overloaded, causing her body to bug out.

"K-K-Ka-Kagamin~…?" Her vocal chords were apparently affected as well. In front of her, there was her girlfriend that decided to cosplay as Santa on Christmas. It wasn't the standard Santa, though, it was the much more popular sexy version of it. On top of it, it was a Santa costume that gave every other sexy Santa a run for their money.

"P-Please say something, okay…?" She was already embarrassed enough, and Konata wasn't any help.

"…" There was no spoken reaction, but Kagami could be sure that Konata liked what she was seeing because the liquid that began dripping out of her nose had the same color as her costume. A nice and deep red.

Kagami wasn't just wearing red, though, there was a lot of white mixed into it as well. Calling it a Santa outfit was a little controversial, to be exact. The only traditional, or rather not indecent, part was the red Santa hat with a fluffy, white bobble attach to its end. The rest of the outfit barely even qualified as a Santa costume, except for the color, that is.

Her top was basically just a red bra with a white outlining and a big ribbon between the cups. Her stomach was completely exposed, but at least her skirt was perfectly fine. If used as a belt, that is. As a skirt, though, its coverage wasn't even worth mentioning because it utterly defeated the point. The tiny piece of clothing also followed the color pattern of being red with a white outlining, together with some lace applications. By the way, her panties, that were entirely out in the open thanks to the sorry excuse of a skirt, where white as well.

Going further down, snow white lace garter stocking came into view that tightly clung to Kagami's legs and tights. According to Konata's line of sight, those were by far her favorite things of the Santa costume. As a finishing touch, Kagami was wearing red, elbow-long gloves with white ribbons attached here and there. Completely unnoticed until now, she was also holding a neatly wrapped present in her arms, but Konata didn't care about that in the slightest. She continued to shamelessly stare at her for many minutes.

"K-Kona, isn't it about time to say something already?" Kagami was still fighting against her embarrassment.

"Ah… Eh… Uhm… Wha… Er… Wai… Ehm…" She needed another moment to speak in an understandable language again. "Ah, I see… So this is heaven, huh? I did die early after all…" She was totally overwhelmed, and this was the only possible explanation.

"Do you really think you would end up in heaven, Kona?"

"Ah! That's true… Wait, so this is real…?" Konata didn't even try to say something about her comment. "W-Wow, you look awesome, Kagamin~. No, you look _hot_." Once she had accepted reality, she immediately began complimenting Kagami in her own way.

"T-Thanks…" She was still embarrassed, but looked happy as well. "Looks like I made the right decision about the costume I chose…"

"Huh, what's that about?" Konata heard something interesting and shifted her focus away from Kagami's legs for a _short_ while.

"I wasn't so sure which cosplay to choose."

"Oh, what were the options?"

"Either the sexy Santa I'm wearing right now or sexy catgirl." Her choices were a little one-sided, but it was for Konata after all.

"Sexy c-catgirl…? Hmm…" She had a really conflicted look on her face. "Now _that's_ a tough decision right here… It's a good thing you didn't leave the decision up to me. I never would've been able to choose one… How did you end up going with the Santa one?"

"It was a little more fitting for the occasion and… W-Well, I did like the catgirl, but the way the tail gets attached there… I wasn't so sure about that specific part…"

"The tail…? What does… WAIT! Wait, wait, wait a moment!" Konata was a little confused at first, but once she understood what Kagami was implying, she needed a moment to let it settle in. Even she started blushing a little, but it was nothing compared to Kagami when she saw Konata's flustered reaction. "T-There are other ways to attach the tail besides i-inserting it, you know…?"

"T-There are…?" Apparently, she didn't know about that.

"Y-Yeah, like some sort of belt where the tail is attached to, or directly integrated as a part of the costume for example…" She was oddly well informed about that sort of thing.

"I-I-Is that so…?" Her face earned another shade of red and was already past the point of typical embarrassment.

"Kagamin~… Just where were you looking for the cosplay…?"

"On the internet of course! There's no way I would look for, much less buy something like that in a normal store after all."

"Mind telling me the address of this site? For research purposes only, of course." Konata was very interested in what else the site has to offer.

"I don't think that's a good idea." Kagami was _slightly_ concerned about her well-being, or rather, her remaining dignity.

"Anyway, I'm very happy with your choice, Kagamin~. I couldn't have chosen anything bolder, even if I tried my best. It's just the way I like it~." After all, she was quite the pervert. Not that Kagami was any better because she was the one who chose the cosplay in the first place.

"By the way, how about I give you the _actual_ present now?" She held up the present she was holding in her arms the entire time.

"No, thanks, I'm good already." She had no interest in it because she already had her fill with the cosplay and so her inner, humble self couldn't accept anything more. "I'm already more than happy with the cosplay, you know?"

"Nonono, I'm already about a million presents behind before being able to compare to your apartment surprise, so please accept my present."

"Fine, who am I to refuse a present in the first place?" Her inner, humble self, went back to sleep and Konata finally unwrapped the box while looking rather confused once she saw the content. "Those are?"

"Study books." Kagami had gifted her a wide variety of economics-related study books. "But they aren't just any books because there's a story behind it. I looked for people who are studying economics in Yokohama all over the internet and asked them which books they used to pass the entrance test. After getting a decent list, I visited about every bookstore and online shop until I found every single one of it." She had put quite a lot of work into her present. Way more than one would think at first glance. "It's still not in the slightest comparable to your present, Kona, but I still did my best with that."

"Wow…" Konata was deeply impressed. "What a very thoughtful present. I'm very pleased you think so much of me and our future together." She really liked her present. "By the way, you're the only one who's allowed to gift me study books without receiving a beating, you know?"

"I, and all the people around you are very well aware of that." No one besides Kagami would even think about getting her anything study related in the first place.

"Anyway, thanks, Kagamin~. It's a very nice present. It's maybe not as expensive as mine, but that's not the point of presents anyway. It's equally meaningful because you also want to spend your future here with me in Yokohama and that's all that counts. Also, that Santa cosplay gave you like a million bonus points." She gave a meaningful speech, but still managed to ruin it at the end.

"I-Is that so…?" She was feeling a little conflicted. "Somehow, it really _does_ feel like the cosplay alone would've been enough after all…"

"N-No, that's not true… I was joking when I said that earlier…" Konata tried to deny, and she also meant what she said, but her voice was still wavering and the fact that she was staring at her legs for quite a while again already, wasn't exactly helping her case.

"You're such an idiot~." Kagami wasn't angry at all because it was clear that Konata was happy about the books and she interpreted her staring as a compliment.

That look Konata was giving her also made clear what was about to happen. Kagami had no problems with seeing that she was incredibly turned on for a while already. She absolutely couldn't blame her for that either because it was her fault and responsibility that she was like that in the first place. It also wasn't much of a bother for her because, honestly speaking, Kagami was more than just ready for it as well. More than that, she was even looking forward to it because of everything that Konata did today really made Kagami want to _have_ her. If the apartment wouldn't have been empty, she might've already attacked her there, but the lack of a bed or anything else of use left her no other choice than to bear with her urge until now.

Once Kagami returned Konata's _wanting_ gaze with a much more powerful on her own, there was no holding back anymore. Konata tackled her, and both ended up on the bed while immediately starting to make out. It didn't take long before they began stripping each other, but Konata hadn't much to do there because Kagami already was basically naked from the started and her kinks were leaking out.

"K-Kagamin~…" Her breathing already was a little rugged. "Would it be possible if we don't take off your stockings…?" She really liked them. "Oh, and… the Santa hat as well…" There was no explanation for that part.

"Nevermind the stockings, I know about that after all, but… seriously, what's wrong with your head…?" Kagami knew about her love for stockings, but the Santa hat surpassed her understanding. Even so, she complied and kept both on.

After that, things got heated up again, and both openly let out their desires that had pent up over the day. Thanks to the events that happened, the two, especially Kagami were a lot more passionate and _wild_ throughout the night.

….

The next morning arrived, and just like yesterday, the two had a somewhat late breakfast in the hotel restaurant again. After finishing their meal, they checked out of the hotel afterward. Facing the hotel employee at the counter was one of the most embarrassing things the two ever had to do until now. Not only did they have more than just a few visible hickeys, but the two also had to explain how they broke the lamp on the nightstand next to the bed. Konata and Kagami obviously lied about the real reason on how they broke the lamp during the last night, but their appearances were telling its own story.

Having paid for the room, and the lamp, the two exited the hotel with very swift steps and were on the streets of Yokohama again. While they were walking the last time through the city, for now, the couple suddenly started laughing halfway to the station because of what happened earlier.

"Ahaha… That was sooo embarrassing at the checkout… Why are we such idiots, Kona?"

"Because we're having fun in our lives?"

"Do you really have to be an idiot for that…?"

"It certainly looks like it, doesn't it?"

"Well… it does…." Kagami accepted the fate of being an idiot rather easily.

"Ehehe~."

"No more visible hickeys, though! That hotel employee didn't say anything, but she clearly was embarrassed as well after looking at us. She totally knew that we lied when we told her how the lamp broke!" She wanted Konata to hold back at least a little.

"Kagamin~, you do realize that I have more hickeys than you, right…?"

"Ah… We really are idiots, huh…?"

"Why _we_? Well, not that you're wrong…" They were both idiots, after all, happy-go-lucky idiots.

"We should still be a little more cautious… We should at least _try_ to… We're going to fail anyway, but it's good to have a resolution, right…" Kagami was perfectly aware that her plan isn't going to work.

"Sure~. So, what did we learn from last night's incident, Kagamin~?"

"Not being so _wild_ anymore…?"

"Eh…? No way! What are you even talking about?" According to her reaction, Kagami apparently came to the wrong conclusion.

"What's the right answer then, if not that?"

"That we shouldn't place anything breakable next to our bed once we're living together of course!"

"Ahh… You're not even going to try holding back in the future, huh?"

"Well, are you going to, Kagamin~?" She never got an answer from her, but that was an answer in itself, and the two reached the train station shortly after. With that, their trip to Yokohama came to an end.

After getting home safely, the two were pretty busy until New Year's Eve. Konata was still legitimately afraid of Kagami's thread about what happens if she fails the entrance test and, so she didn't stop studying even for a minute on those days after Christmas. She absolutely can't allow herself to fail the test for college after everything she promised Kagami about their future together after all.

Kagami's Christmas present actually helped her a ton. The study books, of course, were very helpful. The Santa cosplay was more distracting than everything else she came across before. She, and Kagami as well, made significant progress over those days, and so they allowed themselves to take a break over the new year to spend it with their group of friends.

* * *

.

* * *

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Well, even though it was supposed to be a Christmas chapter, it played a rather minor part in the story.

As usual, the two are continuing to be a lovey-dovey idiot couple. Rest in peace, Mr. lamp. Your death won't be in vain. Actually, it was…

Their dream of living together is getting closer now that Kagami knows about the apartment as well. Okay, I admit the apartment is a _little_ big, but who cares about the small details. The floor plan isn't completely final, and there maybe are going to happen some slight changes, but that's the apartment I had in mind. I plan to use the floor plan in the future again once the apartment got renovated. Also, when the girls get the furniture for it so I can give a better understanding of their future home.

…

.

I'm about to run out of ideas for the story, so I'm currently thinking about new things (Feel free to message me requests/ideas!). How do you guys feel about OC (Character not _native_ to the original story)? I mentioned the sweets grandma and her granddaughter in this chapter, and I have a few ideas for the grandma and actually want to make the granddaughter a regular character as a college friend of Konata and Kagami, but I'm not sure whether I should add OCs or not. I'm probably going to have a lot of fun with them because I already have a ton of ideas. Having completely free hands with some characters sounds pretty interesting in my eyes. Okay, I already altered the girls quite a bit but that's just... character progression...? Yeah... let's call it that.

Please let me know your opinions about that. (hopefully positive... I somehow love the new characters already...)

.

….

The next chapter is about New Year, and it's already done, so it's most likely going to be here after New Year's Eve. It's much shorter, though, so don't expect too much. (3500-4000 words) It's also completely based on a joke on a specific name/description I wanted to do since forever... A joke on Kagami's costs, that is.


	45. Shrine 'maiden'

After coming back from Yokohama, Konata and Kagami spend the next days with intense studying. Even though it was only a few days, the two made some excellent progress, mainly because the study books Konata got from Kagami were extremely helpful.

Thanks to that, the two decided to take a break from studying on New Year's Eve because both had something to do and wanted to meet up with their friends in the evening.

Konata went together with her father and Hiyori to winter comiket. She was better prepared than ever for comiket this year. Not only did she have her usual bag carrier, Sojiro, she also had an insider, Hiyori, who was selling her own works this time that helped her to get inside earlier and let Konata skip past all the peasants that had to line up and wait outside.

Kagami, on the other hand, decided to help out at the shrine of her father during the morning and afternoon. She wanted to pay him back a little for allowing to let them live together and even paying for a significant part for Yokohama as well by helping a ton over the day. She also wanted to make up to her dad a little because, other than Tsukasa, she isn't going to work as a miko in the evening for various reasons.

Tsukasa had joined her somewhere along the afternoon, and the two kept helping with various miscellaneous things until evening. Kagami assisted Tsukasa with getting into her miko clothing and then left things to her. Afterwards, she went to the entrance of the shrine where she was supposed to meet up with Konata. Luckily, she was already waiting there and Kagami also immediately found her.

"Oh, you're early, Kona. How was comiket? Sorry I couldn't come with you~." So she said, but she wasn't able to suppress the smile on her lips.

"Yeah, you sure look sorry, Kagami~. It was great. Thanks to dad and Hiyorin, it was the smoothest comiket ever."

"You shamelessly used them for your own gain, didn't you?" She effortlessly figured her out.

"So did they. Dad's novel aside, have you read the mangas Hiyorin sold on comiket…?"

"Now that you mention it… I hope you worked them good there." Kagami remembered that those two used the couple as reference material quite a bit in the past.

"Never mind that, you really stopped cosplaying as a miko, huh?" Konata noticed that she was wearing casual clothes.

"I didn't have much of a choice, did I? And, don't call it cosplay!"

"Yeah… shrine _maiden_ really doesn't work anymore, like… at all. Actually, shouldn't you have stepped down last year already, Kagamin~?"

"Technically speaking… But, we just came out shortly before last December, so there was no way to stop working as a shrine maiden directly after…"

"Well, good paint. Although, I have to admit that the conversation you had with your father about stop being a shrine _maiden_ was quite amusing if you ask me~."

"Oi! I already want to die just by remembering it! It was so incredibly embarrassing!" Kagami's face turned red by merely thinking about it.

"Hehe, but your timing was seriously awkward, Kagamin~. To tell him literally days after I told him about living together… The entire time, I wasn't sure whether I should laugh or be scared of the look your father was giving me…"

"He did? I never noticed that because I was too busy being embarrassed…"

"I really don't get fathers at all…" Konata sighed because of their overprotectiveness. "I mean, we're dating for almost one and a half years already now… What does he think we're doing? Occasionally holding hands or what…?"

"That's just how dads are…" Kagami let out a sigh as well.

"I was really happy that Miki secretly kept him in check the entire time." Konata was concerned he would blurt out the topic of moving together at that time. "Other than that, it was very entertaining~."

"It really wasn't for me, idiot!"

"Just look at the bright side, Kagamin~."

"Just what would that be? I'm pretty sure there's nothing positive at all."

"There sure is~. You can cosplay all you want as a miko for me without feeling guilty now."

"Tha… That's not going to happen…" She didn't sound very convincing, though.

"Ehehe~. Speaking of which, Tsukasa is…?"

"Working as a miko like a good girl."

"I see… Yeah, she is a good girl."

"Unlike you, Kona, or rather… us…" Kagami wasn't any better after all.

"Yep, you really aren't a good girl, Kagamin~."

"I kind of feel like hitting you today, you little good for nothing." While the two kept bickering in their usual manner for a short while, a familiar face suddenly showed up.

"Oh, Konata-senpai and Kagami-senpai, hey there~." Hiyori arrived at the main entrance of the shrine and spotted the couple while there were having, well, fun.

"Ah, Hiyorin, you made it back in one piece from comiket, huh?"

"Yeah, thanks to you, I was pretty popular and was way too busy the entire day…"

"Literally thanks to us, isn't it?" Kagami just had to make this remark. "You better treat us to something nice with your profits from using us as an inspiration."

"Sure, that's the least I can do." She didn't feel bad at all.

"I'm looking forward to it."

"By the way, are the others not here yet?"

"Tsukasa's working as a miko at the moment, but other than that, we're the only ones."

"I see… Wait, why is Tsukasa-senpai working as a miko and you…"

"Just. don't. ask." Kagami stopped her mid-sentence with an intense glare on her face. Seeing that, Hiyori immediately shut up while slightly trembling.

"Anyway, Hiyorin…" Konata wanted to change the topic because she was slightly concerned about her safety. "How's the serialization for dad's novel coming along? I've been waiting to read a manga version of it for quite a while already." She still had no intention of reading the light novel even after about two years had passed already.

"I'm currently in the middle of getting my work samples and art into the best shape. It's a good thing I wasn't late at all for my comiket submissions and wasn't stressed out over that. I'm going to send everything to Sojiro-sensei's editor next week like he asked me to and then I have to wait for their decision on the matter.

"Ah, I see. Well, I'm looking forward to it."

"Yes, I also can't wait and want to start already."

…..

The group kept chatting for a while, and once Kagami was shortly distracted by something, Hiyori quickly got closer to Konata and asked why she was almost killed earlier. After Konata explained why Kagami stopped being a shrine _maiden_ , Hiyori couldn't stop smiling for the rest of the evening. 15 more minutes passed and the rest of their group, Miyuki, Minami, and Yutaka showed up at the shrine as well. Yutaka apparently was at Minami's place already before, and so the three decided to come together. Unlike Konata and the others, those three were actually wearing fitting kimonos for the occasion. All of them were flowery themed, and while Miyuki's red and white Kimono had a somewhat traditional and modest motif, the kimonos of Yutaka and Minami were a lot more playful. The two were even wearing the same design, and only the base color was different. Yutaka's was mainly pink and white while Minami had decided for a dark blue tone.

"Oh~, what a sight for sore eyes." Konata spotted them first and liked what she was seeing.

"Ah, Konata-oneechan!" Yutaka noticed her and quickly ran up to the group.

"Good evening…" Miyuki and Minami caught up with them as well.

"You sure went all out, huh?" Hiyori was impressed at how dressed up they were.

"It's fun to do it once in a while, isn't it~?" Yutaka was happy about being able to wear a kimono.

"Yutaka-chan said I should wear one as well, and so I did." Minami had a rather simple reason.

"Due to family reasons, I was wearing a kimono all day long already. It would've been weirder not wearing one when visiting a shrine for me now." Having visited a lot of her relatives, Miyuki already had a hectic day before arriving here.

While the girls kept chatting about their kimonos and various other things, Konata and Kagami suddenly spotted two familiar people.

"Oh, Inori and Matsuri are cosplaying as mikos today as well, huh?"

"Yeah, they're taking over for Tsukasa, so she can spend the evening with us a little earlier. And, it's still not cosplaying!"

"Heh~, they're such good girls~… They just have nothing planned for today, right~?"

"More or less." The two were just casually being rude as usual.

"I see~. Eh… W-Wait a moment… Why is glaring Matsuri at us like that…?" Konata looked at the _slightly_ scary look on her face. "Don't tell me she heard us just now?!"

"Nah, she's just angry… no, jealous that I stopped being a miko before her."

"Oh my, she's such a cutie~."

"I know, right~." Forget being rude, the two were just casually being evil. Hiyori was standing next to the couple until now, but she began feeling uncomfortable with this position, and her instincts were telling her to retreat a few steps.

Some more time passed that was spent with chatting and trying various things from the food-stands all around them. Tsukasa was done with helping out as a miko as well, and the group was finally complete.

They walked around the shrine grounds for a while longer, and everyone enjoyed the festival-like atmosphere. Once they found a less populated area where they were alone, Kagami and Konata stopped the group, though, because the two had to tell them something.

"Tsukasa, you haven't told them already, right?"

"Told them about… Ah, no, of course I didn't, onee-chan." Being her sister, Tsukasa apparently already knew what they want to talk about.

"I see, that's good. Well then, how to start this…" Kagami wanted to announce that she and Konata are going to live together soon, but she had no idea how to begin, especially because she had just talked with the first years about that very topic only a few weeks ago. "Kona and I are planning something slightly big for the future, and we thought our friends would be interested in hearing about it."

"An important announcement from our lovey-dovey power couple…?" Hiyori's eyes started shining by just thinking about it. "D-D-Don't tell me you're thinking about going overseas in order to get married there?!" Her delusions already got the better of her.

"… Eh, no… That's not what I wanted to announce..." There definitely was no pause at the beginning.

"Then, I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about, Kagami-senpai." Hiyori was serious because, for her, there wasn't much left that the couple could possibly announce.

"No, once we passed our entrance tests for college, we're going to live together in Yokohama and no, I'm not talking about the dorm. Kona found a wonderful apartment for us."

"Eh…? When did that happen? Weren't you talking about the dorm not that long ago…?" It entirely didn't match up with the story Kagami told them the last time they talked about it.

"Well… Long story short, Kona suggested it to me last week when we went to Yokohama over Christmas. We also visited the apartment already, and it's ours in March if everything works out." Kagami didn't feel like talking about the whole surprise part.

"Haa~… Keep your calm, Hiyori, keep calm…" She had almost lost it earlier before, but she tried not to get too excited because all the excitement's bad for her health. "How many bedrooms?"

"Two." Strictly speaking, that is.

"Ehh…?" Hiyori wasn't happy with that answer, but it was at least good for her health.

"Well, Konata's going to use the second bedroom for her PC and anime stuff, though."

"I see~." Her disappointment was instantly cast away again.

"What was that question even for, Hiyorin?" Konata thought that she would know them well enough by now.

"Good question… I'm probably trying to keep it easy because I would get too excited otherwise."

"Come on, we know you want to, Hiyorin." No one believed she could pull that off.

"No, it's totally fine, you know? If I don't waste my time on getting excited, I can use up my saved energy for my delusions and creativity."

"Ahh… That's how it is…" Konata and the others were relieved that fundamentally nothing changed and that Hiyori was still Hiyori.

"So, how big is the playground?" Absolutely nothing changed.

"We don't have any furniture yet, so we don't know big the bed's going to be." It was hard to say what was worse with this situation. Hiyori's extremely suggestive remark, or how the couple understood it without a problem and casually answered.

"O-Okay…" She wasn't expecting an answer, and so it was becoming a lot harder for her not to get excited. While she continued to hold back, Yutaka and Minami got interested in the topic as well.

"So, you're really going to move out, Konata-oneechan?" Yutaka was a little sad that she's going to leave the house. "You as well, Kagami-senpai…" She wasn't talking about the Hiiragi house here.

"Wow, that's big." Minami was impressed by the couple's decision.

While the couple kept chatting with the first years about various details, the girls soon left Konata and Kagami alone again because they had to take care of Hiyori. Even though she didn't want to get too excited anymore, her delusions still took a significant toll and her mental sanity and so, the first years wanted to get something to drink for her and let her think about something else.

Now that the third years were alone, Miyuki and Tsukasa came closer to the two because they wanted to say something about the topic as well.

"Congratulations on moving together, Konata-san and Kagami-san." Miyuki was happy for them, but she didn't sound overly cheerful while saying so.

"It's so unfair that you and Kona-chan are moving together, onee-chan!" Tsukasa let out her feelings more openly. In short, the two were simply extremely jealous.

"Ehehe~. You know, it wouldn't be _too_ hard to do the same eventually."

"No way, that's way too early!" Miyuki immediately denied Konata's suggestion.

"Ah… Right, you two still haven't come out after all… It would look somewhat suspicious if you two suddenly wanted to live together for no reason." Konata remembered that the two aren't so open about the topic like she and Kagami are. "Not that coming out would be hard, though."

"It's by far the hardest thing I can imagine right now, and I'm about to take an entrance test to study medicine, you know?!"

"Even when Tsukasa's mother already knows about the two of you?" Konata casually dropped a massive bomb.

"Yes, even the-… Wait, what did you just say, Konata-san?!"

"M-Mom knows about us?! How…?" This was apparently news to Miyuki and Miyuki.

"You two, Miki acknowledged Kagamin~ and me as a couple before we even realized our feelings… You didn't seriously believe that _that_ Miki wouldn't know about it after half a year of you two dating, right…?"

"Eh, what's that about?" Kagami never heard about the first part either.

"Well, that's slightly embarrassing, so I'll keep it to myself…" Miki wanted to marry off Kagami to Konata because she's useless at managing a household after all.

"W-What are we going to do now, Y-Yuki-chan…?"

"I-I have no idea…"

"You don't have to do anything. Sure, Miki's super sad for a while now already because you two don't want to tell her, but it's not like she would do anything like talking about it with others, for example, Miyuki's parents."

"Shut up, Kona, you're not helping." Kagami stopped her before the situation got worse.

"S-Should we tell my mom, Yuki-chan…?"

"I-I don't know…" Miyuki felt conflicted. On the one hand, she didn't want to come out yet, but on the other hand, it would make no difference anymore now. "Is it okay if I think a little longer about it? Until after the entrance tests at least…"

"Of course, that's no problem at all. I absolutely don't want this to affect your scores, after all, Yuki-chan." Tsukasa completely understood her concern.

"Thank you, and I'm sorry about that…"

"No, it's fine, Yuki-chan. I'm okay with waiting a little longer." She was already happy with the fact that Miyuki was even considering it. "By the way, does anyone else want something to drink as well?" Tsukasa tried to change the topic before the mood got any worse.

"Sure, good idea, I'll come with you, sis." Kagami decided to help her, and the twins left to get some drinks for the four as well.

"Somehow, I'm sorry about that…" Konata and Miyuki were alone at the moment, and she quickly apologized for going overboard because she felt terrible about it now.

"It's not your fault, Konata-san. It was only a matter of time before someone found out. Besides, it was a quite a pleasant feeling when we told Minami-san about us, so…"

"Oh, that's good. Speaking from experience, it's much nicer to be open about it after all."

"Thank you, I hope so, too. But, don't get me wrong, Konata-san, I'm not sure if you and Kagami-san are the right standard here… I think we'll aim for about 10% of your openness in the _not-so-far_ future…"

"Ahh, you mean the normal amount of how couples are acting who aren't hiding the fact that they're dating?"

"Yes, that _normal_ amount. You and Kagami-san are way too shameless. Oh, I don't mean any offense with that, though, Konata-san."

"Naturally, why would I feel offended by something like that in the first place?" Although there was slight sarcasm mixed into it, Konata totally got where she was coming from. The two are pretty shameless, and that's a fact.

"Ehehe."

"Ahaha~." The two began laughing at some time because they were having fun with their conversation that got slightly silly at the end and the topic was over with that. "How did you and Tsukasa spend your Christmas, Miyuki?" Konata was interested whether _something_ interesting happened or not.

"It was great. We had the house for us alone and had a lot of fun together."

"Hoh~? Now that sounds interesting." Konata liked the sound of it. "Wait, was it really okay for Tsukasa to cosp-… be a miko today~?"

"What does that have… A-AH!" Miyuki completely turned red once she understood what Konata was implying. "N-No… N-No, n-nothing of that sort happened! N-Nothing at all!" She furiously waved her hands and denies it with her entire body.

"If you deny it one more time, I'll actually believe it." Konata thought she was acting way too suspicious.

"R-Really!" She became even more embarrassed. "We simply baked a Christmas cake together and totally overate ourselves because it ended up being way too big. Thanks to that, we stayed at home and watched a couple Christmas movies on the big TV in our living room. Because we were totally alone, we used the chance to openly cuddle all we want without worrying the entire time…"

"I-Is that so…? I'm sorry for suggesting weird things…" Konata was blended by their innocent purity and felt dirty by just remembering how she and Kagami spend the nights of Christmas. They even destroyed a lamp because the two were too wild after all.

Luckily, Konata didn't need to stay ashamed on her own for too long because the other girls of the group joined them again soon enough. Finally being united again, Konata let herself be comforted by Kagami, and the group continued to enjoy the evening.

The night progressed smoothly without any notable incidents. The clock soon passed midnight, and the group went through the obligatory formalities after arriving in the new year, such as exchanging greetings and the likes.

A couple more hours passed, and everyone managed to stay awake until the morning. Going to an elevated place near the shrine and the group enjoyed the first sunrise of the new year.

After that, because everyone was tired, the girls finally went home again. Except for Kagami that is, though, because she also went to Konata's place, but nobody expected anything else anyway.

With that, January of the new year was finally there, but it wasn't an enjoyable month for the third years because their entrance tests were coming closer and closer. Tsukasa didn't have it that hard and somehow managed to stay sane because her cooking school only asked for some decent general knowledge and focused more on the practical abilities. She really doesn't have any need to study for that, but Miyuki, Kagami, and especially Konata were under a lot of stress basically the entire month. It was their final sprint before their important tests in February after all. Studying day in and out made the month pass in the blink of an eye, though, and it was almost time for the tests already.

* * *

.

* * *

Happy New Year, everyone.

Well, just like the Christmas Chapter last time, New Year wasn't really the focus this time either…

I know that a miko / shrine maiden doesn't have that kind of requirement (anymore) because it's nowadays just a better part-time job, but I liked the joke, and so I made this chapter anyway… Kagami being embarrassed is always a nice thing after all.

The rest of the chapter was basically just used to tell the others about their apartment to make the chapter a little longer…

For the next chapter, I'll more or less skip right to their entrance exams and the aftermath of it. I'll also probably stop with posting the chapter at the same time when something happens in the story and just post them whenever they're ready again. Meaning, the plot of the next chapter happens around the middle/end of February, but it's probably going to happen earlier…

I also spent a lot of time with creating the new characters (most fun I had in a while when thinking about new stuff) and some stories for the future, so the story is going to last a while longer.


	46. Entrance tests

January was already over, and it was not a very fun month for the third years. Especially Konata was on the verge of dying already because she had only 1 HP left from all the studying they did. Absolutely nothing else other than the girls doing their best for the entrance tests from morning to evening happened after all. Konata naturally wouldn't survive something like that without taking damage, but Kagami wasn't in her best shape either. All that studying for the test put her under a lot of stress as well, but, on the brighter side, she was very happy about the stress-induced weight loss during the last weeks.

Miyuki had completely disappeared into her own world and, in Konata's words, had undergone some full-blown spartan training. Because of her intense studying, she also only met up with Tsukasa during her few break days, but she fully understood that. The girl in question, Tsukasa, on the other hand, was somewhat hated by everyone during their study time. While she also needs acceptable grades, her studying mainly consisted in cooking as much as possible and taste testing as the preparation for the practical test of her cooking schools she wants to enter.

….

February arrived and with that, testing time for the girls began.

Miyuki was the first one who had to take her entrance test, but it wasn't even worth mentioning that much. Nobody doubted even for a fraction of a second that she's even physically capable of failing a test in the first place. Everyone was sure that she passed for sure.

Tsukasa was next, and while she got nothing official yet, the examiners had a hard time staying indifferent after tasting the desert she had to prepare as part of the test there. From the look of it, she wasn't going to have any problems either.

A few days later, it was finally the time for Konata and Kagami, who had their test on the same day. Kagami's test was scheduled a little before noon, and Konata's began a couple hours later. Because of the time difference, the two decided to go to Yokohama individually after also sleeping at their own places for a rare chance, to not accidentally getting _distracted_. Konata used the extra hours in the morning for some last-minute cramming just to make sure.

…..

Kagami finished her test about half an hour after Konata started hers, and because she wanted to wait for her, Kagami had to find something to kill time until then.

Not being able to think of anything better, she decided to pay the sweets store grandma another visit. Barely remembering the way, and being totally exhausted, it took her a while, but she eventually managed to arrive at the store.

"Welcome. Oh, Kagami-chan, you really came again, huh? Wait, what's wrong?!" The grandma needed a moment to recognize her again, but then quickly noticed that she wasn't looking overly well.

"Ahh, nothing much… I just never was as exhausted and tired as today before… That's all."

"Is that why you look like a ghost?"

"More or less…"

"So, what's the cause if this?" The grandma was curious about the state she was in.

"I just finished taking my entrance test for college before coming here. That and all the studying beforehand completely tired me out…"

"Oh, that was today? I see I guess it's normal to be tired after that. Ah, want to rest in the back room for a while? You can also have some tea if you want."

"Really? That would be perfect." Being too tired to refuse her, taking a rest sounded perfect right now.

"Go ahead then. I'll bring you some tea later."

"Okay, thank you very much…" Kagami disappeared into the room behind the store and made herself comfortable there. About ten minutes passed, and the grandma appeared with the tea and a large variety of sweets from her shop.

"Here you go, I'm sure that will help you recover, Kagami-chan."

"Oh, that looks so good~." She completely ignored the tea and dived directly into the sweets. After getting her fill on that, she finally drank the tea, and after emptying the cup, Kagami's complexion already looked way better.

"Oh, looks like it worked. You already look way healthier than before."

"Yeah, sweet things work really well for me…" Thankfully, there was no one there that would make fun of her.

"So, how was the test?" The grandma wanted to know how she did.

"Hmm… It was super hard and exhausting, even more than I had imagined… But, I don't have a bad feeling about it. I think a did a good job."

"That's nice to hear. Well, after you made all those grand plans with Konata-chan, it just has to be, right?"

"That's true, falling is not an option."

"By the way, when is her test?" She was wondering why Konata wasn't here with her.

"Actually, she's taking her test right now. There were only a few hours in between. That's why I came here, to wait until she's done. She'll come here as well once she's done.

"Is that so? I hope she's doing well right now then."

"She better be. Well, I'm not _that_ worried. She may not look like it, but she's surprisingly good at economics."

"That's reassuring. Okay then, I need to go back tending the store. Feel free to relax some more here."

"Thank you very much, I will." Kagami accepted her offer, and the grandma left her alone again. Still having a lot of time left to kill, Kagami kept munching away way too many sweets while worrying about how Konata's doing right now and wishing for the best.

…..

A little over two hours passed before Konata finally arrived at the sweets store as well.

"Welcome. Oh, Konata-chan, you're done, huh? Good job."

"Yep, just finished taking my test, thanks."

"How was it? You seem to be a lot more relaxed than Kagami-chan earlier." The grandma was surprised that Konata wasn't pale and exhausted looking as well.

"I think I managed just fine~." Konata was in awfully high spirits for some reason. "Is Kagamin~ in the back?"

"Yes, she's still recovering from her test in there." Saying so, the two went to the room behind the store where Kagami was waiting for Konata to arrive.

"Well, that certainly didn't last long…" Konata noticed all the remnants of already eaten sweets and the pile that was still left. "And you were so happy about all the weight you lost over the last month… Not that there was a need for that in the first place, though…" She had a hard time suppressing the smirk that was forming on her face.

"S-Shut up, idiot!" Kagami almost leaped over the entire table and hit Konata's because she was embarrassed. What made it worse, it was completely true. "W-Wait, that doesn't matter right now! W-Why are you so laid back after just finishing your entrance test?" How… Eh, Kona…?" She noticed that something was wrong.

"Haa… Good night…" The moment Kagami had hit her, Konata lost all her little remaining energy, and once the tension inside her was gone, she lifelessly slumped down on the table. She was also beyond tired after all, but managed to keep running until now.

"My, my, it looks like I need to prepare some more tea." The grandma left them alone for the time being.

Almost ten minutes passed before Kagami was finally able to wake her up again. She felt a bit bad for doing it, but there were still a ton of things to talk about.

"Kona~, wake up already~…" She continued to shake her body until she got a reaction.

"Ugh… Just five minutes more, Kagamin~…"

"Come on, you can sleep all you want once we're back home…"

"Fine…" Konata reluctantly, and lazily raised her head before facing Kagami. "Good morning…"

"Yeah, yeah, good morning, Kona… So, how about coming back to the topic?"

"Topic…?" She was still half asleep.

"The test, Kona, the entrance test! How was it?!"

"Ah, that… Ehehe~." She suddenly looked really smug for some reason.

"H-Huh…? What's with that confident look of yours? Wasn't the test hard?"

"No, super hard, actually… I hope the creator of the test will suffer and misfortune until the rest of his pitiful life…" Konata apparently didn't like that person.

"Ehh…? Then, where's your confidence coming from?"

"You see~, I missed an essential detail on the entrance test for my department."

"That doesn't sound good at all, though…"

"Nonono, it's awesome! Only the economics related part of the test decided whether you pass or now. The rest only determines which other mandatory courses you have to attend afterward. To make things perfect, over half of the economics questions were about marketing things~." It couldn't have gone much better for Konata.

"S-Seriously…?" Kagami wasn't sure whether she should be happy for Konata or jealous because she had such luck with her test.

"Well, it was still super hard, but I have a really good feeling about it~."

"Setting aside the slight unfairness… That's just perfect for us, isn't it?" Jealousy took over a part of her feelings after all.

"Yep~. This also has a very interesting other meaning."

"Hmm? What do you mean, Kona?"

"Whether we will be able to move here, or rather, live together, is more likely up to you now, Kagamin~."

"W-What…? Oh…" She obviously had never imagined such a possibility. "W-Wow, I never would've thought to be the decisive factor here…" Kagami was being casually rude as usual, but she had a point.

"Nobody could've seen that coming." Konata even agreed with her. "I hope you did your best, Kagamin~."

"I-It'll be fine!" She had a good feeling as well, but she couldn't help feeling nervous now.

"Yeah, I think so, too." Teasing aside, Konata believed in her. Kagami was the intelligent here after all.

After that, the couple chatted a little longer with the grandma, but because the two were extremely tired and still had a catch the train, they didn't stay overly long. The grandma didn't say anything, but Kagami still left a suitable amount of money behind for the enormous amount of sweets she ate today. After promising her to visit again, Konata and Kagami finally were about to begin their long way home. The two were about to exit the store when the door suddenly opened, and another person entered the store and slipped past the two while they left.

"Woah, that girl had gorgeous hair…" Kagami turned her head around when she noticed the girl that entered the store. She only saw her from the side and back because she reacted a little late, but that was enough for her to be fascinated by her hair. It was a very tall girl, a good bit taller than Kagami herself, and from what she saw in the very short amount of time, the girl had a very attractive figure and super long, silky jet-black hair that reached all the way down to her hips.

"Eh? Who…? Where?" Because she was so tired, Konata hadn't even noticed that they walked past someone when they exited the store.

"The girl that entered the sweets store just now…"

"Hmm…?" Konata turned around, but the door had already closed behind them, and she couldn't see anything. "Aww, too bad… Ogling other girls, already, huh~?"

"Shut up, idiot, you're just jealous you didn't see her, right?"

"Absolutely!" She not even tried to hide it. While Konata missed the girl completely, Kagami also had missed a very important exchange between the girl and the grandma was well when they left the store.

"Oh, Mio-chan, welcome back."

"Yeah, I'm home, grandma."

Not realizing at all that they had just met someone important passing by, a person Kagami wanted to see the last time they visited already, but couldn't back then, the two continued their walk towards the station while trying their best not to fall asleep without ever talking with the granddaughter of the sweets store grandma.

The moment the two entered the shinkansen to Tokyo, it was no use anymore, though, and they slept through the entire ride, barely even managing to exit in Tokyo again. After that, Konata and Kagami entered another train towards their homes and both went back to their own because their parents wanted to know how it went in Yokohama in person.

Once the two informed their parents about their tests, they directly went to their rooms and instantly fell asleep without taking a bath or even eating something in the evening because the exhaustion was too great. Thankfully, the girls had no school on the next day because it's more or less optional during the testing period until graduation. Because of that, the couple almost slept until noon of the next day without running into problems.

…

After Konata was finally more or less awake, she headed over to Kagami's place because it was Valentine's day, but Kagami actually wasn't the main reason for her visit. Having had their entrance test just a day before it, the couple had decided to skip Valentine's day this year because the timing was beyond bad.

Miyuki also had her difficulties with preparing something for Tsukasa in such short time, and so, Tsukasa decided to make something for everyone because she was the only one who had enough time. Actually, even preparing sweets for Valentine's day worked as some sort of training for her entrance test. Because of those factors, she got overly excited and made a literal mountain of chocolate-y sweets for everyone. This wasn't very good for Kagami, though. Her stress-induced weight loss, which she was pleased about, had already taken a huge hit yesterday when she visited the sweets grandma, but became utterly pointless with that. She complained a ton about the amount of chocolate to Tsukasa, but she still ended up eating more of it than her sister, Miyuki, and Konata in the end.

While the girls were snacking on the sweets in Kagami's room, the group naturally began chatting about their tests because that was more or less the only topic they were interested in right now.

"Now that I think about it, this is the first time the four of us all met up again since New Year, isn't it?" Kagami noticed they actually haven't seen each other like that in a while.

"Indeed. Well, we just went through a hectic time, so there's no helping it." Miyuki agreed with her observation. "By the way, how was your and Konata-san's test yesterday, Kagami-san? I hope it went well."

"It was extremely hard, but I'm fairly confident."

"Yep, same for me. I was pretty lucky and got some good questions, though. How about the two of you?" Konata was interested how Miyuki and Tsukasa did because she hadn't heard anything yet.

"It may be presumptuous for me to say, but I'm basically certain to have passed without any troubles." Miyuki said so, being a little bashful, but no one thought she was being presumptuous at all because that result was a given anyway.

"I think I did a good job as well." Tsukasa was quite as convinced as Miyuki, but she also had a good feeling about it. "I'm still totally about the results, though…"

"That's absolutely true." Konata and Kagami were feeling the same as Tsukasa. The two were being especially nervous about it because they had so much more to lose if one of them failed the test with their apartment in Yokohama.

"By the way, when is everyone getting their result?" Tsukasa wanted to know how long to have to wait. "To me, they said somewhere in the upcoming week."

"Same here." Konata and Kagami got told the same date.

"So am I." It was the same for Miyuki as well.

"What is everyone going to do until then?"

"Absolutely nothing at all!"

"I'm with Kona here this time… The last weeks were so exhausting that I just want to take it easy and relax for a change." Usually, Kagami would've given a more serious answer, but the last weeks were so hard that she went down to Konata's level of laziness.

"Oh, I like that idea." Tsukasa apparently was going to do the same.

"Yes, I think I'll take a short break from studying as well for now." Miyuki didn't let go as much as the others, but she was tired as well.

After everyone had decided to enjoy their time after the tests were over by taking it easy without needing to study, the days passed in the blink of an eye.

….

The following week began, and with that, the results of their entrance test were coming in.

Tsukasa was the first one who got a reply from her cooking school, and as expected, it was an easy victory. The points she got from her desert alone was more than enough to make her pass already.

Miyuki actually had a more difficult time, but for a very special reason. Nobody, not even the professors from her new college had an explanation for it, but Miyuki somehow managed to score 107% on her entrance test. Because something like shouldn't have been possible and people in her medicine department rarely score even above 90%, there were obviously some doubts about her impossible results. The faculty director of the college got curious about it and invited Miyuki to a personal conversation about the topic. For some reason, after talking about an hour with him, Miyuki was the first person ever that got a full scholarship in her college for some reason.

Two more days passed and Konata finally received a letter from her college as well. Once she told her father about the letter, she immediately headed over to Kagami's place because the two had decided to look at their results together before.

About 30 minutes later, the door of Konata's house opened again, and _Kagami_ entered the hallway. Sojiro spotted her from the living room and looked confused.

"Ehh… Kagami…? What are you doing here…?"

"Ah, Sojiro, I just got my results from the college test earlier and wanted to take a look at them together with Kona. Is she in her room?"

"Ehm… No, she left a while ago…"

"Ehh?! Where did she go?!" Kagami wanted to see her result as soon as possible, so Konata not being there was a big problem for her.

"Well… She's at your place, Kagami…"

"What, why?! Out of all times, she decides to come to my place for a change, she chooses today?!"

"You see… She got her results of the entrance test today as well and had the same plan as you…"

"I-Is that so…?" She felt a little stupid that the two had the same idea and acted without thinking about it. "Well then, I'll head back immediately." Not that she started thinking now.

"Ah, wait a mome-… and she's gone… What a splendid flag she raised just now…" He already knew what's going to happen soon enough.

A little over half an hour passed and Sojiro's guess already came true. Konata had come home again and sprinted into the living room.

"Dad, I'm home! Has Kagamin~ already arrived? You won't believe it… I arrived at her place, and Miki told me that Kagamin~ had the exact same idea and was already gone…"

"…" Sojiro had troubles answering her. "Well, Kagami did come over a while ago…"

"Perfect, is she in my room?"

"Ehm, she _was_ here, you know… Kagami headed back home the second she heard that you were at her place…"

"S-Seriously?! Just how stupid are we?"

"Ahaha…" He didn't want to answer that.

Meanwhile, at Kagami's house.

"Ha… M-Mom… I'm home… H-Have you seen Kona…?" Kagami had trouble breathing because she ran all the way from the station to her place.

"You're kidding, aren't you…?" Miki could only shake her head at her daughter.

"E-Eh, why…?"

"She already went back home because you were at her place…"

"T-That's not true, is it…?"

"As funny as it is, it is. Well, it's actually more kind of sad in a hilariously painful way…"

"Au… Please don't tell anyone about that, mom…" Kagami felt extremely stupid and embarrassed.

"As if anyone would believe me anyway…" Miki had no plans on gossiping. "So, what are you going to do now, stupid daughter of mine."

"I'll give her a call now first, I guess…" She didn't feel like retorting because she couldn't say anything about it, grabbed her cellphone and tried contacting Konata, but she didn't get through.

"Hmm, what's wrong?"

"I'm just getting a busy signal…"

"Don't tell me she tried contacting you at the same time. You two can't be that much of a…"

"No way… It was just a coincidence!" She tried calling her again, but got the same result. After trying it two more times with varying waiting periods in between, there was still no change in the situation.

"Wow…" Miki had no other words.

"W-Well… Let's try calling her house instead…" Kagami didn't want to continue this farce because it was way too embarrassing. "Ah, Konata? You colossal idiot, just what are you doing?!" She finally got through to her. "S-Shut up… Yes, we both are complete idiots… Anyway, just. Don't. move! …I'm coming over to your place again now… Yeah, bye…" She hung up and let out a big sigh.

"As long as you two are aware of it…" Miki was talking about the idiot part she heard.

"Once again, see you later, mom…" Without making any more fuss, she quickly left.

"Take care~." Miki also let out a sigh. "Those two are just too much… Mom is worried about their future…"

About 40 more minutes went down the drain, and Kagami arrived for the second time today at Konata's house.

"Welcome back, Kagami~." Sojiro greeted her with a smile.

"S-Shut up…" She was still embarrassed about their stupidity. Without saying a word, she went upstairs to Konata's room.

"Ah, there you are, Kagamin~."

"Hey, Kona… Can we not talk about earlier, okay?"

"I just wanted to suggest the same." Konata also just wanted to forget about it.

"So, back to the topic…" Kagami held up the letter from the college that was still closed and brought their attention to it.

"R-Right…" They instantly became nervous again. Just like Kagami, Konata stared at her letter for a while, but nothing happened. "H-How about opening each other's letters? That maybe makes it easier…"

"G-Good idea…" The two exchanged their letters, but the plan didn't work that well. Instead of looking at their own letter, the couple was now staring at the one given in exchange. Neither of them found the courage to open it because they were way too nervous to look at the results. The two were confident about their test, but looking at the real results was something different altogether. Almost five minutes passed when the door of Konata's room opened, and Sojiro barged in.

"And, how does it look?" He was obviously curious about their results as well, but because he didn't hear anything until now, he totally wasn't listening in at all, though, Sojiro couldn't wait any longer and entered Konata's room. "Wait a moment… You still haven't opened them?"

"W-Well… We're too nervous to look at the results…"

"I see… Want me to check them first instead?"

"Oh, that could work." The couple looked at each other with a confirming nod and handed over the letters to him.

"Okay." Sojiro opened them and looked at the results of both girls. A few seconds passed, and he decided to tease the couple just a little. "Hmm… Hmm… I see… That's how it is, huh? Very interesting indeed…" He dragged it out as long as he could.

"DAD!" Konata really wasn't into teasing right now.

"That's not funny at all!" Neither was Kagami.

"Sorry about that." Sojiro turned the letters around, and the word 'Accepted' was clearly visible on both. "Congratulations, you two."

"…" The room fell silent for a while because the couple needed a moment to fully acknowledge the situation. Once reality settled it, Konata and Kagami leaped into each other's arms and began jumping around in the room. "We made it. We made it! We really made it!" While the two continued to happily jump around, Sojiro decided to leave them alone.

"Well, I think I'll give Kagami's parents a call for now. I highly doubt she'll think about it at the moment."

It took almost ten minutes before the couple calmed down to some extent and the two finally let go of each other, but continued to be super excited and giddy because they still had a hard time actually believing it. Both sat down on Konata's bed and reread their letters to make sure that everything wasn't just a dream. After confirming it about five times, they were finally sure about it and were about to do another dance of joy, but barely managed to hold back.

"We really passed the test…"

"Yeah…" The couple was in a daze.

"What are we going to do next now?" Now that it was sure that the two are going to move to Yokohama together, there was a lot of planning to do, and Kagami wondered with what they should start.

"Hmm… Calling the landlord about the apartment is probably the first thing we should do. After that… Taking a look at the renovations?" Konata hadn't planned that much yet.

"Sounds good as a start. Oh, we also need to take measurements of the rooms for the furniture and stuff. And, speaking of that, we also need to go shopping for those. Together, of course, because I totally don't trust you on that, Kona." More points were quickly added to their to-do list.

"Yeah, I wouldn't trust me either."

"As long as you understand. We also need to pack our stuff and get ready to move… Not to mention setting everything up in our new apartment."

"Haa... I just realized, but taking it easy after the entrance test is already over, huh?" After hearing everything that they have to do, Konata realized that the two are going to be very busy.

"Yes, we're going to have a ton of things to do with our moving to Yokohama."

"Well, it could be worse~."

"Yeah, compared to studying for the entrance test, I don't mind this kind of being busy one bit." The two weren't disappointed at all that they weren't able to relax anymore and looked forward to the next weeks.

….

Miyuki and Tsukasa came over to Konata's place in the afternoon of the next day to celebrate that everyone got accepted to their first-choice college, respectively cooking school in one case. Because of that, Tsukasa went ahead and baked a cake for the occasion. Much to Kagami's dismay, it was full of chocolate and cream, making it extremely rich in calories. There was already nothing left from her unintended diet, and with this cake, everyone, especially Konata will have to bear with the whining about some numbers on Kagami's scale in the near future.

"So, now that we all passed, what's everyone going to do until college starts." Kagami wanted to know what their plans for the next couple weeks are. "Oh, and your cooking school, of course, sis."

"Hmm… probably the same as last week, onee-chan. I'll sleep a lot."

"When did you wake up today?"

"Just a few hours ago…"

"I see…" Kagami had expected that much. "What about you, Miyuki?"

"That's a good question. I'll eventually have to start studying for college already, but, other than that… Meeting up with Tsukasa-san in the afternoon if she's awake by then, I guess. What about you and Konata-san, Kagamin-san?"

"Kona and I are going to be super busy for the next weeks because of our apartment in Yokohama."

"There's still so much left to do, basically everything, actually until we're ready to move… That's going to take up all our attention for a while."

"Yes, that sounds time-consuming." Miyuki understood why the two are going to be even more busy from now on.

"Speaking of which, onee-chan, I really want to see your apartment soon. Is that possible?"

"Hmm… Once we set everything up there, you can visit us anytime you want, sis. It wouldn't be any fun without furniture anyways, wouldn't it?"

"We'll probably do a housewarming party then as well."

"Oh, I can't wait for that."

"Indeed, I'm looking forward to it as well." Tsukasa and Miyuki were really interested in their apartment and how the two are going to live together.

The group kept chatting for a good amount of time longer about various things, but once it became evening, Miyuki and Tsukasa headed back home again. Kagami obviously stayed at Konata's place, though.

…..

A few days passed since their gettogether, and just like expected, Konata and Kagami were super busy already. The paperwork for the apartment was already done, and it was officially theirs now. The two had received the keys already and were now on their way to Yokohama again. They wanted to check out the renovations and needed to take detailed measurements of the rooms in order to be able to buy furniture.

Once the couple had arrived at their apartment and opened the door, both were pretty surprised.

"Wait a moment… Is the flooring new as well?" The first thing that Kagami noticed was that the floor in the hallway looked somewhat different from how she remembered it before. The color was a little darker, and the type of wood was different as well, it was some sort of birch wood now.

"I think so, too. They sure went all out with the renovations, huh?"

"It looks nice. I like it. I wonder what else is new in here~." Kagami was getting excited already.

"We should start with the kitchen then. They said we're getting a new one after all."

"Okay~." Since the moment she had entered the apartment, Kagami's mood had skyrocketed and it didn't seem like that would change anytime soon.

"W-Wow…" The two entered the kitchen and Konata couldn't suppress her surprise. Not only was the flooring there new as well, being the same as the hallway now, but the kitchen itself was entirely new and totally different looking now. It was much bigger than before, offering more place to work on, and everything seemed really modern. The cupboard, including the hanging ones on the wall, were white with brushed aluminum handles, and a dark gray, elegant countertop made the look perfect. The electrical installments, such as the stove, oven, and the big fridge, that was also in a brushed aluminum look, where state of the art as well.

"Woah, you were right, they definitely went all out with the renovations…" Kagami also didn't expect that much of a change.

"Yeah, it looks awesome, though. We're going to have a lot of fun here~."

"… Pervert."

"Ehh… What? Ah, Kagamin~, I meant cooking, you know…?" Konata's words usually always carry a suggestive undertone, but this time, she really was talking about cooking only.

"Oh, s-sorry, I used a wrong word… I-I meant, uh…" She tried a weak excuse, but it apparently didn't work.

"Kagamin~." A happy grin formed on her face.

"S-Shut up…" Kagami wasn't embarrassed that she had a perverted thought, that's nothing new after all, but that she was the only one and basically self-destructed herself was too much.

"Ehehe~. Anyways, please don't destroy the kitchen, okay, Kagamin~? It would be too much of a waste for such a nice-looking kitchen…"

"H-Hey! That's not nice at all-… I'll try my best to be careful…" She got angry for a second, but she then got concerned about the kitchen as well because there's actually a not so small possibility that she actually blows it up.

Because they didn't have to take any measurements in the kitchen, everything was there already, after all, the two left the kitchen again. After taking a short glance at the toilet and the bathroom to see if anything changed, which didn't, they took some measurements from the fitting room part of the bathroom. Afterwards, the two went to the smaller bedroom, the one that Konata's going to use as her otaku room.

"Huh… Was the cabinet there in the was the last time as well already, Kagamin~…?" Konata looked to the right side of the room where she spotted an open sliding door that revealed a cabinet of about the size that the toilet next to the room wasn't using behind it.

"Hmm… I'm not exactly sure…" Kagami tried to recall the last time the two were here. "Ah, wasn't there some stuff standing in front of that wall back then?"

"Oh, now that you say it, I'm starting to remember. That's great, it saves us one shelf or so from the shopping list."

"Right, saved money is always a good thing."

"Not sure if a single shelf matters much, though…" Konata wasn't sure if one would even notice that on the list of things to buy.

After making a quick sketch of the future otaku room and adding the measurements on it, the couple went to the bigger, real bedroom. Except the flooring, that was the same as everywhere else as well now, nothing much besides the new AC near the ceiling on the wall changed there. Another room sketch, including its measurements, was made and the couple made a quick stop in the hallway again because they needed a plan and the size of it as well. After that, the couple headed over to the living room. In the bigger part of it, just like the bedroom, only the AC and the now matching floor changed, so sketching and taking measurements didn't take up much time. The Japanese room connected to the living room saw a few more renovations, though. On top of the new AC there as well, the paper sliding doors leading to it were entirely new, and fresh tatami mats were installed on the floor.

"New tatami sure smells nice~." The two were standing in the Japanese room, and Kagami noticed the distinct smell of fresh tatami mats.

"So true!" Konata enjoyed the scent as well and then threw herself on the tatami while rolling around on it. "It also feels super nice."

"Haa…" Kagami, too, sat down on the floor and after also enjoying the feel while letting out a happy sigh, she spoke up again. "I sure wasn't expecting that they would renovate that much."

"Yeah, it's indeed a nice surprise. Thank god we agreed on the rent before the renovations started." After seeing all those changes, it would be more surprising if the rent wouldn't have gone up.

"Hehe, lucky us~." Once they had relaxed enough, the two took the measurements of the Japanese room, and after making a sketch of it as well, the couple sat down on the tatami mats again because that was the most comfortable spot in the apartment right now. After that, Konata laid out the sketches of the rooms on the floor, and both carefully looked at them.

"So, shall we do some more planning, Kagamin~?"

"Hmm… Hmmng…" While having a really concentrated look on her face, Kagami picked up the sketch of the living room and rotated it a few times to get a better feel for the proportions. "Let's see… How about…" She grabbed a pencil, and after tapping it a few times on the paper while thinking about something, she began drawing a dining table and a couple chairs on it. It looks super messy, but it got the point across.

"Yeah, that works. There's still enough room for the stools I wanted for the hatch to the kitchen that way." Konata took over the pencil and started drawing on the sheet of paper as well. After adding the stools and pondering a little over a good place, she added a sofa as well. It was an L-shaped one that also acted as a room divider between the dining place and the rest. Then, at the other side of the room, Konata also drew in a TV stand. "How about it?" Her drawing looked even worse, but that wasn't a problem either.

"Seems good to me. Okay, we still need a sofa table and... How about a shelf?" The user of the pencil changed again, and Kagami drew them onto the plan as well. "That should be it."

"Looks like a living room to me. I like it." Both looked at their drawings for a moment and seemed happy with the result. Once the living room was done, Konata picked up the sketch of the Japanese room and looked at it for a second or two. "Well, that's easy… A low table _slash_ kotatsu and a shelf or cupboard-like on the wall…?"

"Yep, we should keep it easy here." The Japanese room didn't take up much time, and it was Kagami's time again. Picking up the pencil, she began drawing something on the sketch of the bedroom. "Well, okay, we already agreed on the position for the bed the last time, so… that goes there. A nightstand on each side is also a good idea and… hmm…" She drew those on the sheet and started tapping with the pencil on the paper again as she thought about the other furniture. "Ah, right, the wardrobe and a cupboard… Let's see, those are going there… and, do we need anything else…?" Kagami's drawing looked finished, but she felt like there was missing something.

"Anything else… Oh, should we get a TV in the bedroom as well?"

"Doesn't sound like a bad idea. Watching a movie while… relaxing in the bed _is_ quite nice." Kagami always enjoyed cuddling in the bed with Konata while watching a movie. "But, do we even have enough place for that?"

"We can get one of those wall mount things. This way, the TV basically doesn't need any place at all on the wall." Konata already had a way to solve the problem.

"Yeah, let's do that." She quickly added a TV to her drawing to finish it. "Other than that, we don't need anything else, do we?"

"No, looks complete to me as well. Okay, next up is _my_ playground, right?" Konata took over the pencil again and got ready to start working on the sketch of her otaku room.

"Don't make it sound like the bedroom is _my_ playground."

"Well, it's _our_ playground, Kagamin~." She corrected her words in her own way and then began adding some furniture to the sketch. "Okay, let me think… I need a desk for my PC… that goes there… or maybe on that wall…? Then, a big shelf for my mangas and figures…Probably there, I guess? Some stuff can into that wall cabin we found earlier…" She kept drawing things onto the sketch of the room while thinking about what she needs. "Oh, I almost forgot the wardrobe for your cosplay, Kagamin~."

"Damn, so close…" She actually hoped that Konata had forgotten about it. It's not like she has anything against cosplaying. That's certainly not the case, especially after Christmas, but Kagami was a little scared about what's going to happen with the whole cosplaying thing once the two are living alone.

"Hehe~. Okay, I think that's all I need for now in there…" Konata finished her drawing for the otaku room and put the sketch back on the floor to the others.

"On to the bathroom… Well, not that there's much needed in there…" Kagami took a quick look at the bathroom sketch, but was quickly done with it again. "Well, a washing machine and a shelf for towels and stuff, huh?"

"Yeah." Konata had nothing to add. "What's left…? Ah, the hallway…" She found the only sheet of paper that had nothing added to it yet. "What do we need in there…? A cupboard or two and maybe something else to place… stuff on, I guess?" Konata wasn't exactly sure what to do with the hallway.

"Hmm… also some decorative things…?" Kagami also was no expert on the topic. "Oh, we do need a shoe rack at the entrance and something to hang on our coats and stuff." She managed to think of something practical at least.

"Ah, yes, we need those…" Shopping for decorative things could become quite the challenge for the two.

Once they finished their planning for the furniture in every room of the apartment, Konata and Kagami looked at the sketches with a happy, but also complicated look.

"Woah, that's quite a lot of stuff we need…" Kagami was a little overwhelmed by the amount of furniture. "Konata, that's getting really expensive…"

"I know~." She didn't care about it in the slightest.

"Hmm…" Kagami didn't feel that well about Konata paying for everything. "I wonder if I can bring something from my place that we can use as well…" She wanted to at least contribute a small part to the costs. "Oh, I think my mom bought a shelf not that long ago, but it didn't fit in the place where she wanted to have it in the end. It's still collecting dust in its carton ever since then…"

"That sounds like a good idea. Let's ask her later about it."

"Let's do that. What else… The TV in my room is also fairly new, and I won't be needing it anymore. Sure, I'll stay a few days here and there back home, but I can live without a TV during that time…"

"Your TV, huh? It's certainly not a bad one, but it's too small for the living room… Maybe it could work for our bedroom? Oh, how about the Japanese room? Watching TV while lazing under the kotatsu is pure bliss after all."

"Just how many TVs do you want, Kona?"

"How many rooms do we have again? About twice the number of that would be ideal."

"I shouldn't have asked…." She had expected an answer along those lines. "Then again, a kotatsu and a TV goes pretty well together.

"It's decided then~. All that's left now is going shopping for furniture, huh?"

"I have the distinct feeling that this is going to be a really complicated experience, Kona…"

"Nah, I'm looking forward to it. I'm sure it's going to be fun."

"More like long, nerve-wracking, and expensive, but sure, fun." Kagami and Konata had different interpretations of _fun_ on that.

"Don't be like that, Kagamin~."

"Well, it's our apartment and future life together, of course, I'm excited… I just hope you're not going to overdo it, Kona." She addressed her primary concern about the shopping trip.

"Ehehe~." Konata didn't give a very satisfying answer.

"Let's look up furniture store once we get home and visit one tomorrow, Kona." She wanted to go as soon as possible.

"Look who's looking forward to it now."

"That faster we get our furniture, the faster we can move in, right?" So she said, but Kagami's eyes were definitely sparkling.

"True. Ah, I can't wait to live together with you here, Kagamin~."

"You're absolutely not alone with that." Kagami also was looking forward to their life together.

"Now that I think about it… If everything goes well, we actually could spend a first night here in a couple days or a week, huh?"

"Oh, I would like that. Let's make tomorrow a success then. Too bad we can't move in already because we still have our graduation ceremony among other high school stuff…"

"Yeah, but then again, graduation is a little over two weeks, so we don't have to wait _that_ long, Kagamin~."

"Let's hope I can wait that long~." Kagami was so excited at the moment that two or maybe even three weeks were way too long for her.

"Hehe." Konata was happy that Kagami was so eager to move together with her. "Not that I don't understand you, though. I hardly can't wait either." She also was pretty giddy.

After relaxing some more time in _their_ apartment, the couple decided to head back home, the homes they were living right now because it was getting late and the two had everything they needed to know of the apartment. They didn't pay the sweets grandma a visit this time because Kagami didn't want to. According to her, she had gained way too much weight over the past week, not that Konata had seen any of that extra fat.

Once they had arrived at home, Konata's place, of course, the couple looked up some furniture stores online and made some plans for the next days and how they're going to tackle their big shopping trip. It wouldn't be a good idea to do this without a plan after all, especially when Konata's taking part in the furniture shopping for their new home.

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I got that chapter ready way earlier than I had imagined… Maybe even too early because I have the feeling I missed something, but… whatever.

Not really relevant, but I made a bad sketch of the scene about how they handled the planning for their rooms and the furniture.

www,imgur,com/e7U2qEr (exchange the , with . ) (For some reason not showing up on my profile again...)

Nothing much to comment on this chapter… The girls had their entrance test, and the results were obvious after all. Miyuki sure overdid it, though.

Not sure if anyone noticed, but there was a short tease about one of my new characters for the story in here. Mio, the granddaughter of the sweets grandma, made her debut, although a short one. You'll see more of her in the future. Starting with this chapter, I'll post a profile of the extra characters of this story on my page and add information as they get revealed in the story. All of you then can take a look at those characters.

Next chapter… I'm not sure how much going to happen there… Definitely their shopping trip and setting up their apartment. Maybe I'll include the graduation already, maybe I won't. I also want to do a Miyuki and Tsukasa scene again because I neglected those too much lately… Absolutely no idea when the chapter's going to happen, though.


	47. Side Story 1: Sweets store conversation

Okay, this time is a little different than usual. It's more of a side story and doesn't feature anyone of the usual cast. You can skip it if you want because it doesn't have much to do with the main plot, but I highly advise against it. This one and the other side/special chapters that are yet to come are going to introduce the new characters I'm adding in the future.

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Back to the day of Konata's and Kagami's entrance test.

The couple had just left the grandma's sweets store to head back home after a long and tiresome day.

Kagami had briefly noticed a tall girl entering the store and was _slightly_ entranced by her long and silky, jet black hair, but was too tired to start a conversation.

"Oh, Mio-chan, welcome back." The grandma, the owner of the store, seemed to know her and lightly greeted her once she saw the girl named _Mio._

"Yeah, I'm home, grandma." As is turned out, the sweets store grandma is the _actual_ grandmother of the girl. It's her granddaughter who is called Mio who had just entered the store.

"How was your day?"

"Pretty awesome. The college should have entrance test more often so that we have some more free days. I was able to laze around for half of the day and even found a couple interesting books in the bookstore. I actually read one of them entirely in the store already earlier…"

"Ah, so that's why you were out so long again…?" The grandma didn't sound overly surprised. It seemed like this wasn't the first time something like that happened.

"Yeah, I was so into it that I completely forgot about the time and place~." Mio didn't sound apologetic at all.

"That probably also means that you're going to spend the rest of the day reading as well, too, huh?"

"I would love to do just that, but I don't think I'll be able to do it…"

"Getting a visit later on today again?" The grandma guessed why Mio wasn't able to spend her time reading in peace today.

"I would be surprised if not. That would be a first after all then."

"You sure are popular, aren't you~?" She guessed right and tried to tease Mio a bit about it.

"By the way, who were those girls that had just left the store when I came in?" Mio wasn't fazed at all by her teasing. "I've never seen them, before, and there aren't many young people that come here after all."

"A-Ah…" She suddenly froze up.

"What's wrong, grandma?" Mio was confused by her reaction.

"I totally forgot about them…"

"Hmm…?" She didn't understand at all what she was talking about.

"They wanted to meet you, but I totally forgot to introduce them to you just now…"

"Would it be possible to get some details already?" Mio became even more confused.

"Those two were Kagami-chan and Konata-chan. They first visited the store back on Christmas. They're super nice girls, and I had a lot of fun talking with them."

"I see, that's good to hear, but what exactly does that have to with me, grandma…?"

"Both of them took the entrance test for your college today. They wanted to meet you the last time because I told them that you're going to that college and the two wanted to hear some things from someone who has first-hand experience in the college." The grandma explained the situation and Mio finally understood what was going on.

"Okay… So, how did they do?"

"The two seemed confident. Well, they really have to after all…" She remembered the grand plans of Konata and Kagami once they were accepted into the college.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Konata-chan and Kagami-chan told me that they're going to rent an apartment together nearby and both seemed to be really looking forward to it."

"Is that so…? Hmm… Are they going to come visit again, grandma?"

"I guess that depends on the results of their tests and whether they passed or not, but the two said they will at least."

"Okay, good, could you tell me the next time they're coming for a visit?" It seems like Mio had taken an interest in Konata and Kagami.

"That's not a problem." The grandma obviously agreed, and then changed the topic. "Anyway, Mio-chan, I thought of a filling for my…"

"No."

"Come on, just a bite…" She had changed the recipe for one of her sweets and wanted Mio to try it.

"It's absolutely delicious, you know? Kagami-chan and Konata-chan also liked it very much."

"Good for them. I'm still not trying it, though."

"Why not?" The grandma wasn't giving up so soon.

"I told you like a million times that I don't like your sweets, grandma. I just can't see the appeal of traditional sweets at all. They just don't taste good to me." Mio apparently really had a significant aversion to them.

"I really wonder what went wrong when we raised you…" As the owner of a traditional Japanese sweets store, the grandma naturally wondered what happened that her granddaughter doesn't like these kinds of sweets. "You should be more like _Naomi-chan_ , you know? She's such a good girl who loves my sweets…"

"Yeah, yeah, I know… After all, I'm feeding her the sweets I got from you ever since we were little, grandma." Mio apparently never liked those sweets and had to make others eat them for her instead.

"Maybe I should really make her take over the store in the future…" Because the granddaughter was such a disappointment in that regard, she had to look for another successor.

"Maybe you should because I'm surely the wrong person for the job." Mio had absolutely no interest in taking over the store eventually after all. "Well, I don't think that's possible, though."

"Yes, I can see how it would be impossible for Naomi-chan. That's too bad…" It seems like there were some difficulties involved with that Naomi taking over the store instead.

Mio and her grandmother kept talking about the topic for a while longer, but then another girl entered the store. It seems like this girl was even more sensitive to the cold than Konata because she was wearing such thick clothes, including a beanie and a fluffy muffler that covered up almost her entire face. Because of that, except for her sapphire-like blue eyes, no one could even guess how she looked. The girls timidly peeked into the store through the half-opened door first to see if other customers were inside right now, and once she saw that there was no one, the girl fully entered. Her shy attitude suddenly changed entirely as she happily skipped towards the counter where Mio was still talking with her grandma.

"Hey there, Naomi." Mio greeted her first, and somehow, she had absolutely no problems recognizing her hiding beneath the ton of clothes. She also didn't seem surprised by the change of the timid acting between entering the store and the sudden cheerfulness.

"Ah, Naomi-chan, welcome." The reaction of the grandma was similar.

"Hello, Mio-chan~, and grandma." The sweets store owner was the grandma of everyone. "What were you two talking about?" Naomi had noticed that they were having a conversation when she entered.

"I just wanted Mio-chan to taste some sweets of which I changed the recipe a bit and…"

"Aww, you should know better by now, grandma…" Naomi directly knew what was going on with just that.

"I'm not giving up on her just yet, Naomi-chan. I still believe that I can fix her stubbornness."

"I really wonder who exactly is the stubborn one here…" Mio couldn't agree with her grandmother.

"Grandma, accept it already that Mio-chan has absolutely no taste for good things."

"Hey!"

"I should really make you the successor of the store, after all, Naomi-chan…" She picked up the idea from earlier again.

"Oh, I would totally love to!" She seemed really excited about the suggestion. "But, I really can't… Daddy would be super sad if I wouldn't help him with his companies in the future…"

"Ah, the curse of the rich girl who loves her daddy~."

"Got a problem with that, Mio-chan~?" It looks like this is a sensitive topic.

"Not at all, my princess."

"Ehehe~." Naomi seemed pleased with the answer.

"By the way, do you want to try my new recipe then, Naomi-chan?"

"Of course I will! Your sweets are the best, after all, grandma!" She didn't hesitate for even a fraction of a second with accepting her offer.

"Really, such a good girl you are."

"I'm terribly sorry for being such a disappointment…" Mio wasn't the biggest fan of their discussion right now.

"Don't worry about it, Mio-chan, you're also a good girl… It's only that your tastes are highly questionable." Her grandma tried to cheer her up, but she wasn't overly skillful at it.

"Sure…" She began pouting just a little bit.

"Anyway, Mio-chan, Mio-chan!" Naomi suddenly became even more fidgety in a happy manner and hold up some bags she was carrying until now. "You see, I was shopping again today and found something really great!"

"Oh no… not again…" Mio let out a sigh while looking extremely tired for some reason.

"Don't be like that, it's super cute~." Naomi happily let her peak into the bags with a super expectant look in her eyes. "I'm sure it'll look great on you~."

"Haa… Of course, it's for me again… Didn't I tell you not to do that anymore?"

"Mio-chan, please~…" Naomi looked at her with her upturned, big and blue puppy eyes that easily could even rival those of Tsukasa and quickly got a favorable result.

"Argh, fine, whatever…" There was no way she could've resisted such a stare and gave up.

"Yay~, thank you very much, Mio-chan. It looked super cute in the store, and I'm sure you'll love it as well!" From her level of excitement right now, it was clear that Naomi really loves using Mio as a dress-up doll.

"Sorry, but as usual, I have mixed feeling about that." Mio seemed used to it already, but that still doesn't mean she liked it overly much, though.

After Naomi had gotten her will and also received some sweets from the grandma, she and Mio went upstairs where the living area was and left the grandma behind who was looking after them with a warm smile.

"Those two are as lively as ever. Hmm… Now that I think about it, Kagami-chan and Konata-chan were pretty similar to them, weren't they? I'm sure those girls are going to be great friends in the future. Let's just hope the two passed their tests. No, there's no need to worry, they passed for sure." The grandma continued to tend the store with the same warm smile she got ever since Mio and Naomi left earlier.

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I hope people don't feel too cheated about this chapter because it wasn't about the usual cast and so short. I got the idea while writing the actual next chapter and liked it. I think it's a good way to introduce the new girls. They're going to be a few more side stories like this after one of them meet the main girls, and I'm also planning a full introduction of their life, but I'm not sure whether that will happen as a side as well or be part of the main story, or maybe even both. This time, it's more like a tease and the next side stories will form their personalities and quirks in more detail in the future chapters. Especially Naomi needs a lot of context until she fully _works._ I also didn't describe how Naomi looks on purpose here because I'm saving that for the time she runs into the main cast.

I also added the character profiles on my site with this chapters info.

Anyway, the next chapter that was supposed to be this one… Man, I totally overdid it there… I made a nice and detailed concept for it so that I don't forget anything while writing it. Somehow, just that concept ended up being 16 handwritten pages long… So, I started writing the chapter, and after using about 3.5 pages of my concept, the chapter was already something between 9000 and 10k words long… I decided to split things, and the first part is already done, and it will be up here in about a week or so, I guess…


	48. Apartment Part 1: Shopping Trip

After coming back from visiting their freshly renovated apartment, Konata and Kagami wasted no time at all and immediately looked online for a fitting furniture store. The two found a huge, shopping center-like facility that combined multiple stores around the topic of arranging a house or an apartment. Furniture, bedding related things, cutlery and tableware, electronic devices, decorative things, and many more, everything under one big roof.

Because they had a ton to do, the couple left really early in the morning of the next day to the home center. They had written up everything they needed for their apartment and also noted down the measurements of the rooms. Having more or less a plan, the couple was reasonably confident and entered the center with full vigor. Both were sure everything would go smoothly. They'll soon come to realize they were pretty naïve, but the two didn't know about that yet.

The first station inside was the furniture store, and neither Kagami nor Konata had any idea what to actually even start with on their list.

"Soo…" Konata looked around the huge store and seemed overwhelmed. "Where do we start?"

"Weeell…" Kagami had the same problem. "Ehm… How about we just go with the flow of the store for starters?" The furniture store was divided into different departments, and the first one was about upholstery and related things like sofa tables.

"Sure, sounds like a plan." Konata agreed to the - _lack of-_ plan and the two began looking at the sofas on display, but they quickly realized that their tastes were just a _little_ different. "Oh, how about getting a pure white sofa, Kagamin~? That looks pretty stylish." She pointed a completely white cloth sofa in the middle of the room.

"I'm not so sure about white, especially cloth, you know… It gets dirty very quickly, and you'll see every single _stain_ on it." For some reason, Kagami's intonation on the word _stain_ was a little different from the rest.

" _Stains_ , huh…? Okaaay then… Hmm, how about dark gray then? Black is a bit too boring if you ask me."

"Dark gray, huh? Good idea, I like that color." Having roughly decided on a sofa type, the couple began testing some contemplable ones.

"Oh, how about that one over there? That looks promising." Roughly ten minutes passed, and the couple finally pointed at a sofa they liked. There was only one problem with that, though. The two were pointing in completely different directions. "A-Ah…" Konata and Kagami began to realize that furniture shopping might be a little more difficult than they had imagined.

Almost a whole hour passed since then and after having voiced about a thousand different opinions, the two finally seemed to have agreed on a sofa. It was a rather big, L-shaped sofa in dark gray that could also be converted into a bed. Having finished taking a look at it from every possible _and impossible_ angle, Konata and Kagami sat down on it to evaluate its comfortableness in _every_ position they could think of.

"Hmmn…" Konata had a complicated expression on her face while testing the sofa. "Come here for a second, Kagamin~." She beckoned her to come closer.

"Ehm, sure…?" Kagami didn't know what she wanted, but still sat down right next to Konata.

"Perfect." Without warning, Konata laid down and used Kagami's lap as a pillow. Evaluating the comfortableness of lap pillows on the future sofa of the two seemed to be a critical test for Konata. "Mh-hmm…" She was really focused on her test. "Yes… yes, yes…" Konata moved around on Kagami's lap for a while and then started smiling. "Yeah, yep, that's good. We should get this sofa, Kagamin~." She got up from her lap after having made her decision.

"S-Sure, okay… I like it, too…" Kagami had not even fully realized what just happened. "Well then, how about we get going now?" It's not like she disliked Konata's test, but just choosing a sofa took already way too much time and it was only one point on a very long list while she was already worn out by this, just like Konata.

"Good idea." She also knew they were behind schedule already, but no one could've guessed that furniture shopping could become so complicated, absolutely no one. Something like that should've been like a walk in a park after all.

They noted down the model of the sofa and were about to go to the next area. Before leaving, though, the two had a small breakthrough. In front of the sofa, there was a fitting table on display. Because it went pretty well with the sofa from its looks, they decided to get that sofa table as well before grandiosely looking around for a better one. Afterwards, the couple entered the area for kitchen- and dining related things. There was no need for a kitchen itself because their apartment came with a fully equipped one, but they still needed a dining table and some chairs for it.

The couple walked around for a while looking for a good table, but Konata let Kagami take the lead here and merely approved or disapproved possible choices. Honestly speaking, she didn't really care about the table as long as there's place for tableware on it and doesn't look hideous. Because of that, especially after the sofa torture earlier, she opted for the path of the least resistance.

After looking at around five tables together, Kagami stopped at a somewhat plain and simple table in a darker wood that came with fitting chairs.

"How about it, Kona? The others were somehow all too _fancy,_ and I prefer something not so extravagant if you ask me."

"Yeah, I think so, too. There's enough place for even four people and the design is not bad."

"Should we get it then?"

"Sure, why not?" Konata was happy that this time was a lot more stress-free and noted down the info of the dining table and chairs. "Oh, let's have a look at that…" She found a corner with stools and walked over there. "Let's get some for the hatch between the kitchen and living room, Kagamin~."

"Ah, for the bar thing you wanted to do there? Okay, I liked that idea after all." Kagami agreed to the plan, and the two looked around.

"Hmm… Oh, how about these ones?" Konata pointed at some vintage leather stools.

"Well…" Kagami also took a good look at them. "Yeah, nope… absolutely not, they're ugly." Apparently, she didn't like them very much.

"That was… very clear… Okay then, how about…" Konata was about to point at some other stools, but she couldn't even finish her sentence.

"Definitely not them either. Seriously, they are even worse than the first ones…" Kagami also wasn't a fan of Konata's second choice.

"Wow… Okay then, miss super bossy, which ones do you prefer?"

"Oh, that's easy…" She pointed at a set of stools that caught her interest and looked rather confident in her choice. "Those are great."

"Really… _those_ …? You sure about that…?" Konata didn't seem to like her choice overly much.

"You're just saying that now because I didn't like your choices either, aren't you?"

"Sure… I actually secretly like these… _stool-like things_ you pointed at, Kagamin~." There wasn't a single fiber in Konata's body that like the stools.

"Okay… Maybe I'll look for some others…" Kagami understood the hint. "I would really like some stools with a backrest because they're way more comfortable to sit on, though."

"Oh, that's something I can agree with. I hadn't thought about that yet…" The two managed to agree on something at least and continued their search. _Luckily_ , there was only one type of stool with a backrest left, and that made the decision extremely easy.

"Well, they aren't bad, are they…?"

"Yeah, they're nice…" The mood was a little deflated, but the couple had nothing against the last type of stool and, with that, the hunt for the stools was finally over.

"Why exactly were stools harder to find than the whole dining table, including chairs…"

"Don't ask me, Kona, don't ask me…" Kagami had no answer for her in store.

"Well, whatever, let's go to the next area, Kagamin~."

"Good idea." The two added the chosen stools to their shopping list and left the kitchen area behind.

They entered the department for shelves, lowboards, dressers, and the likes and the couple quickly realized that they're going to spend a lot of time here because they needed quite a lot of them. They wanted to get a shelf and a lowboard to place the TV on for the living room, and two traditional themed dressers or lowboards for the Japanese room. Two dressers for the hallway, a dresser for their bedroom, one shelf for Konata's otaku room, and another shelf for the towels in the bathroom were also needed.

"Can we go home already…?" Seeing the enormous amount of furniture on their list, Kagami didn't want to continue anymore.

"While I understand, like, I totally feel you, Kagamin~, we're just getting started…" Konata was also tired.

"I know… Okay, let's just pull through it. Well then…" Kagami and Konata began walking through the displayed furniture and stopped here and there to get a better look at the shelves and other things, that had caught their interest.

"How about this self for the living room, Kagamin~?" The couple was standing in front of a big bookshelf in a pale beech wood tone that Konata seemed to like.

"Hmm… I like the design, but the color… not so much."

"Partial victory, huh?" Konata looked at the shelf again and then noticed a flyer attached to it. "Oh, Kagamin~, look, it comes in different colors."

"Really? Let me see…" She looked at the colors in the flyer, and the couple quickly came to a decision.

"This is it!" They found a color they liked and pointed at it. Unfortunately, it wasn't the same color the two were pointing at. "Seriously…" They had a strong feeling of déjà-vu right now.

"So much for that… Oh, there's a shade right between our colors, how about we compromise on that?" Konata wanted a lighter color, whereas Kagami liked a darker one better.

"Well, I guess that's our only option here. Then again, that also looks quite nice."

"Yeah, I can definitely live with that compromise."

"Very good." Kagami was incredibly happy that another point was off their shopping list and with only a moderate amount of arguing. "You know what, Kona, because I don't really care about it, AND want to take a break, you can choose the lowboard for the TV all on your own." Because the TV board wasn't worth another dispute, Kagami let her free reign on this one.

"Really? Thank you very much, Kagamin~. I actually found one I like already earlier." Konata guided her to the lowboard corner and showed Kagami the TV one she saw earlier. It was a modern looking, black lowboard with some stained-glass sliding doors at the front.

"Hmm, okay, sure, let's get it." It didn't seem like it would've been Kagami's first choice as well, but she didn't entirely dislike it, either. Because of that, it wasn't that hard for her to let Konata have her will on it.

"Great. Okay then, how about we look for furniture for the Japanese room next?"

"That's a good idea. From the look of it, they don't have much traditional furniture here anyway. Deciding on something should be easy enough then." Kagami was looking forward to because there really wasn't much room for discussion that way.

The couple went over to the Japanese section, and not much to choose from was even positively speaking. The story actually only had one fully furnished Japanese room on display. That was actually a stroke of good fortune for them, though. The two just had to choose whether they wanted one long lowboard or two short ones, and which size the kotatsu should have. While feeling incredibly refreshed from only having to spend about 20 minutes on a whole room, Konata and Kagami happily left the Japanese section again and continued their hunt for dressers and shelves for the other rooms.

"Okay… So, what's next? The hallway?" Still being motivated by their grand success from getting furniture for their Japanese room so quickly, Konata eagerly wanted to continue.

"Yeah, let's do that." Kagami was motivated as well again. "We wanted to get two dressers, right?"

"That's the plan. On at the end of the hallway and one between the toilet and my so-called otaku room. Any ideas on the design, Kagamin~?"

"Hmm… I want a deeper one for the end of the hallway to put a lot of things inside and on top of it. The other one should be a bit thinner to make it not too narrow and cramped to walk past it. For the design… Well, maybe getting something from the same series? Having two different designs would look out of place…"

"Oh, so we basically just have to look for one dresser and have to get it in different sizes? An excellent idea, Kagamin~." It saved them half the work and also halved the chance of another disagreement.

"What about you, Kona, seeing anything that might fit in the hallway?" While looking at dressers together, the two somehow drifted into the area of superficial smalltalk because neither of them wanted to take the initiative of pointing at furniture they liked.

"Let's see… How about…" Konata looked around to find something. "Huh… Dressers are surprisingly boring, aren't they?" She had a very peculiar problem.

"Ah, you think so, too, huh?" Apparently, not so peculiar, actually. "They're basically just a few drawers glued together after all…"

"How about we just get the next best one we don't think is overly boring then, Kagamin~?"

"Ah, quick and easy, I like that." Following suit, the couple looked around for a minute and then pointed at a dresser that fitted the description.

"That one's not bad, let's just get two of those and… Ah…" As if doing it on purpose already, Konata and Kagami were pointing in different directions again. Concluding, the two get two dressers from an entirely different series in the end because it totally wasn't worth a discussion.

Having, more or less, peacefully settled the matter of their hallway, both continued their long journey of getting furniture for the rest of the apartment. Konata also needs a huge bookshelf for the mangas in her otaku room, but that didn't take much time at all because Kagami had absolutely no interest in voicing out her opinion on that.

While looking around, both also found a towel shelf for the bathroom without much trouble, mainly because there wasn't much to choose from in the first place.

After that, things were about to become complicated again, really complicated. While walking around, Konata and Kagami ended up in the bedroom area of the furniture store. The couple still needed a dresser for their bedroom first, but this might actually be better to look for one because it had dressers specially designed for bedrooms after all. Before that, there was one last easy decision, though. After Konata saw a couple wardrobes, she remembered that she still needed one for her otaku room to store her, mostly Kagami's, cosplay outfits in it. Konata got over with it in record time because she simply got the one with the most room for said cosplay and Kagami merely accepted it with a big sigh. There was nothing she could do anyway.

Once this was taken care of as well, the serious part finally started. Yes, things weren't serious before, compared to looking for furniture for their bedroom at least. But, before the two even got to the furniture, there were some things to discuss beforehand.

"Okay, first things first, Kagamin~, I think we should agree on a general design for the bedroom, shouldn't we? We should get matching furniture for the room after all."

"That's true, badly mixed up furniture wouldn't look good at all." Kagami agreed with her and both thought about their preferred design.

"Easy enough, I want something black themed."

"Ah, I was thinking about white actually…"

"…"

"…"

"…" There was a long and really awkward pause.

"Kagamin~, really…? I thought you don't like white after I wanted to get a white sofa earlier…"

"I was only concerned about the _stains_. I actually like white furniture. What about you, Kona, didn't you say black is boring?"

"Black sofas, yes, because they're so common, but other than that, not really. I also chose a black lowboard for the TV, didn't I?"

"Now that you mention it…" Kagami had already forgotten about it. "What do we do now…? Oh, because you already got something black, Kona, it's my turn with something white now~."

"I really don't think that's how it works, my dear." Konata wasn't _that_ easily tricked.

"It was worth a try… Okay, what's your suggestion then?"

"Well… You see, we already have something black with the TV board… It would make only sense to get more fitting furniture, right~?"

"That's not how it works either, honey~."

"Hmm… I can't say I didn't see that coming…" Konata wasn't surprised by the answer.

"Seriously now, Kona, what are we going to do with that?"

"Let's see… It's not like I actually dislike white furniture, so, well, maybe we could at least look for it." While it clearly wasn't Konata's favorite, she could at least live with it.

"Yeah… the same more or less goes for me…"

"So… Let's get the first we both like?"

"How about getting the first we don't dislike instead?" It sounded similar, but the differences were huge, as Kagami's suggestion was much more realistic.

Having roughly agreed on something like a plan, the couple started looking at furniture for the bedroom and began with the dresser because they thought it would be the easiest. Even though they thought that it still took them about ten different dressed and about half an hour before they found one that neither of them immediately shot down on sight.

"This one doesn't look so bad, does it, Kagamin~?"

"Yes, it's also a perfect compromise of our problem of wanting black or white furniture." The two were looking at some sort of dresser makeup-table hybrid. The frame, upper part, and the part around the mirror where white, while the front of the drawers was black.

"Mh-hmm." Konata nodded. "Getting something in black and white is probably the best idea."

"Not only that, I actually really like it. Should we get it?"

"Yep, no veto from me on that, Kagamin~."

Even though it took a while, getting a dresser was only mildly tiring, and the two began looking for a fitting wardrobe. Not only should it have enough room for the clothes of two people, but it should also harmonize with the newly found dresser and most importantly being accepted by both of them. Finding a wardrobe like that was multiple times harder than the dresser because, compared to that, Konata had a much bigger interest in it. The two were going to equally use it after all. Almost an hour, lots of arguing, and many wardrobes later, but were still unable to decide on a model.

"…How about that one, Kona…?" Kagami sounded rather tired by now.

"Isn't that exactly the same the one before the last…?"

"At this point, they actually all look the same to me…"

"Fair point, Kagamin~… Anyway, no, I don't like it."

"I figured as much… Okay, up to the next one…"

"Yay…" Konata was as motivated as Kagami, not even a slight bit. Another ten minutes passed, and an outright miracle happened.

"T-This is it. This is so absolutely the one!"

"Definitely! We're totally getting this wardrobe!" Kagami and Konata were standing in front of a wardrobe that both had apparently fallen in love with. It was a huge, mostly white wardrobe with black glass doors framed in white wood and, at the bottom, there were two rows of drawers in the same design for underwear and other things.

"Finally…"

"Exactly my thought as well…" The couple was more than happy to have found a wardrobe together at last.

"Furniture shopping is way too tiring…"

"You say it, Kagamin~, you say it… I really hope the next piece isn't going to as hard to find as the wardrobe… By the way, what's the next one?"

"It's the bed, Kona…"

"O-Oh… no…" She had a really bad feeling about it and little did she know that she'll regret being right about this feeling of hers. Everything was basically a walk in the park up until now. Child's play even.

"Mh-hmm…" Kagami shared the bad premonition with her.

"Let's see… How about, ehm, that one over there?" Konata pointed at a random bed amongst the, what it looked like, 200 other ones.

"Nope." An expected answer came quick. "No chance."

"Yeah, I actually don't like it either…" It was really a completely random choice Konata made with the bed.

After that, the couple started looking seriously for a bed, but the outcome didn't change in the slightest. It was entirely impossible for them to agree on something and the mood gradually began to worsen.

"No, absolutely not."

"Definitely not."

"Never."

"That ugly thing?"

"Nope."

"Not a chance."

"Nai wa."

"No."

"Not happening."

"Is that even a bed?"

"You're not serious, are you?"

For over an hour, those and many more similar things were about the only words Konata and Kagami had exchanged while they were looking around. While the two continued to argue, the couple finally reached their boiling point soon enough.

"You know what, I don't care anymore, Kona!"

"Really? Interesting, I stopped caring about this… argh! like 20 minutes or so ago!" Konata couldn't even find a fitting word.

"Great!"

"Perfect!" Kagami and Konata had enough of everything and didn't even want to look at beds together anymore because they had problems just standing each other right now as they turned away from each other in a huff.

"Haa… Kona, let's look around individually for a while…"

"Best idea I've heard today." The two really needed a little timeout because everything else made no sense.

That being said, the couple walked away in the opposite direction, and the two began searching for a bed on their own. A little over an hour passed, but their search still wasn't progressing overly well. Konata had tested about ten beds, but there wasn't a single one that made her say 'that's the one'. Feeling tired and worn out, she let herself fall down on a random bed because she wanted to take a break, but once she made contact with this utterly random bed, something clicked.

"Oh…? This one isn't bad… Not bad at all actually… Ehm…?" Konata took a liking to the bed she found by mere chance, but then she started wondering why these spoken words came out in stereo and so she looked to the side. "A-Ah… Hello there…" Just like Konata, Kagami wanted to take a break as well and let herself, too, fall down on a random bed. It ended up being the same bed, only that she laid down on it from the other side. Both looked into each other's eyes for about a minute, but then couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Ha… Ahahaha…" The situation was just so stupid that they could only laugh at themselves. Luckily, the tension between the couple was completely blown away by this.

"Haa… This bed is so comfy~…"

"Absolutely… It also looks nice~…" The two were about to yield to the superior comfortableness, but they barely managed to stay conscious.

"Yeah, you're right with that, Kagamin~…"

"That means we're getting it, then?"

"Of course we are! You don't think I'm going to look at another bed now, do you?!" There was no way Konata was going to continue the search at this point.

"Yes, this bed is perfect, alright, period." Kagami was feeling the same.

With that, the couple had finally decided on a bed after a lot of struggling and fighting. It was a white twin-size bed with an also white head-piece. Inside the head-piece, there was a plate of black glass integrated, much like the design of their wardrobe. Fortunately, the bed also came with two fitting nightstands in the same design, and the couple thankfully didn't need to look for them anymore.

"Kagamin~, I'm sorry about earlier…"

"Nonono, it was equally my fault… I'm sorry as well…" The couple felt like apologizing after what happened earlier.

"Why did we even start fighting over this in the first place?"

"I have absolutely no idea, Kona…" Both couldn't even remember anymore why things got so heated up in the first place.

"Ehehe~, we're such idiots, aren't we?"

"We sure are, Kona, the biggest idiots around~." Their little fight had already been entirely a thing of the past, and the two drifted into their usual lovey-dovey pattern again.

Konata and Kagami looked each other in the eyes again and were about to share a kiss on their new bed, but then realized that they were in the middle of a furniture store. Being just a _little_ embarrassed, both bolted right up and faced into different directions thanks to the fact that they had entered the bed from different sides earlier, but that was a good thing right now. A minute of awkward silence passed before the two started chatting again.

"That sure took us a while, huh…?" Konata looked at the time and noticed that over two hours passed already since the couple started looking for their bed.

"It has… More importantly, I'm super hungry by now…" The couple came here right after a quick breakfast that mainly consisted of toast, and coffee in Kagami's case and after multiple hours of looking for furniture, arguing, running around, and most importantly, arguing a ton, lunch was more than overdue already.

"Now that you mention… Something to eat would be awesome right, not to mention something to drink."

"I wonder if there's a place where we can get some food around here…" Kagami looked around, but all she could see was furniture everywhere.

"Hmm… If I remember right, the sign at the entrance said something about a restaurant in the store. The question is just… where…?" Konata looked around as well, but there was not even a hint of it.

"Let's look for an info sign somewhere then."

"No other choice, huh?" Kagami and Konata began searching for the restaurant. After walking around for about 15 minutes, and asking two clerks for direction because the layout of the store made no sense whatsoever, the two finally found it.

….

Once they had finished their late, but still satisfying lunch, the couple continued their shopping trip with regained energy.

"Ah, that was good."

"Should we look for the rest, then, Kagamin~?"

"You think we can get the rest without arguing or fighting?"

"I really hope so because I'm more than tired of that already. That kind of arguing with you isn't any fun at all."

"I agree with you on that, Kona. I enjoy our usual playful bickering and teasing much more."

"Easy for you to say, Kagamin~." Kagami became way better than Konata at that after her sadistic side fully awakened a while ago. "Just kidding~, yeah, that's way more fun."

"We just have to get a little more cooperative. I know that's hard for us, but we just have to." After the bed incident, Kagami really didn't want a repeat of that.

"Yeah, let's do that… I can't believe how stubborn we were… Wait, nevermind, I totally can actually…" Both of them were incredible stubborn since the very beginning, but today topped most of that, and it wasn't working out at all.

"Let's do our best then. So, what does the list say…? Oh, it's actually not that much anymore." Kagami looked at their shopping list. "Looks like you still need a desk for your otaku room, Kona."

"That's true, oh, and also a chair for that as well."

"Yeah, it could get a little difficult without that. Other than that, we basically only still need a hallstand for our jackets and mantles, and a shoe rack for the entrance." The couple's list of needed furniture had shrunken a ton by now.

"Oho, sounds great."

Kagami and Konata went to look for the office department in order to search for a suitable desk. They somewhat quickly found the area and Konata began roaming around while Kagami only followed her because she was at best mildly interested in the topic. It didn't take long before Konata found a desk she liked and also getting a comfortable chair on top of it. With that, the two were already ready to leave the office area again.

"Very good, this was easy." Kagami was relieved that everything went smoothly this time.

"Yep~. So, hallstand and shoe rack, you said, right?" Konata was motivated again.

"Yeah, I wonder where can find them, though…" Kagami looked around, but this store was able to make every maze in the world jealous with easy.

"Ehm… good question…" Konata didn't even know where they were right now after leaving the office area.

After walking around longer than they wanted to admit because it was too embarrassing in search for the department with the fitting furniture and only walking past the office area three more times, Konata and Kagami finally found the place where hallway related furniture was on display.

"Ah, we finally found it…" Kagami was relieved once she spotted the hallstands and shoe racks they were looking for the entire time.

"Seriously… I really wonder if they made the layout of the store purely to harass people…"

"I wouldn't be surprised if it was…" The couple had enough of the furniture store.

"Anyway, what's the plan, Kagamin~?"

"Good question… Okay, let's see… The shoe rack first… How about a… brown one…?"

"Basically, one made out of wood, you mean? 'Kay, how about that one over there? It seems like it would fit in the entrance." Konata pointed at the next best shoe rack she saw.

"Yeah, something like that… Ah, well, let's just get that one. It's just a darn shoe rack after all." Because the bed incident was still fresh, and it really was just a shoe rack, the couple didn't feel like discussing at all and came to a quick decision.

"Ah~, I love the whimsical Kagamin~."

"Shut up, Kona~, I don't want to be serious about furniture anymore…"

"Hehe. Okay, the hallstand… hallstand… No idea about that whatsoever… Do your best, Kagamin~." Konata had no idea what to choose and let her do the work.

"Hmm, good question… I think I think I want one in a slightly brighter wood. Maybe similar to the dressers in the hallway…" She began looking around and quickly found a hallstand that suited her taste. "How about that one, Kona?" She pointed at the one in question.

"Well, not bad, I guess? I'm okay with the color and design, but do you think there's a version that comes with a mirror?" She didn't dislike Kagami's idea, but Konata felt like there was missing something.

"A mirror, huh? Oh, that's an excellent idea. A mirror would be useful near the entrance. Let's see… a hallstand with a mirror in the same color shouldn't be so hard to find… should it...? Ah, there actually is one." The two had become strangely cooperative, and after Kagami agreed to Konata's suggestion, she started looking for a different dresser and found one in no time.

"Mh-hmm." Konata nodded in agreement. "Looks good, let's get that one." Their harmony almost made the rest of the day seem like a lie."

"Who's the whimsical one here now, Kona?"

"I normally always am whimsical, though."

"Ah, fair point…" There was nothing for Kagami to retort.

"Okay, hallstand is done as well…" Konata added it to their list and took a look at it. "W-Wow, we're actually done with everything we need, Kagamin~."

"I looks like it. Let me see the list for a second." She looked at the list of furniture as well and nodded a few times. "Yes, yes, it's true, we're done."

"Awesome~. But, now that we're finally working as a team, how about we look for some carpets as well? I would like to get some for the living- and bedroom."

"Carpets, huh? Now that you mention it, I actually saw some really nice-looking ones near the entrance." Kagami apparently liked the idea.

"Should we take a look then?"

"Sure, lead the way, Kona."

"Okay~." Konata made exactly one step before stopping again and then she began looking around restlessly. "Kagamin~, where's the entrance again…?"

"Uhm, it's… that way, I think…? No, wait! It's that way!" Kagami pointed in a few directions, but it didn't seem like she had any idea either.

"I hate this store…"

"Yeah…" It didn't seem like the couple will visit anytime soon again.

After getting lost for about three or four times, Konata and Kagami had finally arrived at the entrance again and quickly found the carpets Kagami was talking about. Choosing one each for the living- and bedroom also didn't take much time. They simply went with a simple design that harmonized with the rest of the room and let out an enormous sight once they had the carpets.

"We're finally done, huh…?"

"Yeah, we definitely have everything we need now…" The couple was incredibly relieved once their shopping list for furniture was empty.

"All that's left now is ordering all that stuff and getting it delivered to our apartment. Oh, and paying the bill, of course."

"I have a really bad feeling about this particular part…" After everything they had chosen today, it's bound to be a significant number.

"It'll be fine, Kagamin~." Konata didn't seem to be concerned in the slightest and began looking for a salesperson. They were hiding pretty careful up until now, but once they had heard the words _ordering_ and _paying_ , Konata found one in no time at all for some mysterious reason.

Konata and the sales guy went over their list of furniture together while speaking about details like preferred payment method, delivery date, and various other things. Kagami was no help at all because she was too busy with the heart attack she was having at the moment, that got even worse when the sales guy repeated Konata's order. The furniture will get delivered to their apartment next week and the total price, including delivery and taxes, was just slightly short of 680 000¥. Konata accepted the conditions and the couple was finally able to leave the furniture store after about 7 hours again.

"Oh my god…" Kagami was gripping the order confirmation with trembling hands.

"Ah~, it's finally over~." Konata was feeling more relaxed and relieved than anything else.

"Is that really okay, Kona…? It's such a large sum and I…" She was feeling guilty that Konata paid for everything.

"It's fine, it's fine~. Don't worry about it, Kagamin~." Konata had absolutely no problems with spending her money for their future together.

"B-But…" She was a little stubborn again.

"I said it's fine already~."

"Okay…" She reluctantly accepted the situation.

"Good. Well then, off to the next store."

"Ah, right… We're still not done, huh…" Kagami remembered that they had _only_ gotten the furniture so far.

The couple still needs some electronics like a washing machine and the TVs for the living- and bedroom. Various kitchenware like pots, pans, plates, tableware, cutlery was needed as well. Also, if time allowed, the couple also wanted to get things like blankets and cushions. Luckily, the stores that carried those things were right next to the furniture store the two had just left. The couple decided to get the electronics first and headed over to the store.

…..

After entering the electronics store, Konata and Kagami first went to the corner with washing machines, dryers, and the likes.

"Washing machine, washing machine~, I wonder which one we should get." Konata was walking past the models while thinking about which the right one is. "Ah, I just had a very good idea~."

"Now, that doesn't sound good at all, actually…" Kagami had a bad feeling about this.

"Your father made me promise to make you take more responsibility for household chores~."

"A-And…?" She wasn't sure how to react.

"Wouldn't it be perfect if you're the one who chooses a washing machine for us then? Comparing the specs like size, energy efficiency, and various other important things? Your dad would surely be happy to hear that you're able to do that."

"I see… But, I have absolutely no idea about… Oh, sure, I'll do it." She had mixed feelings because she had not the slightest idea about anything of that, but then she suddenly changed her mind for some reason.

"Really? Cool." Konata hadn't expected an answer like that.

"Excuse me~, I have a couple of question…" Kagami's sudden cooperativeness had a particular reason. She found a store clerk who was working in the area and let him do the work. "I need a washing mashing for a two-person household, but I have not the slightest idea about them. Are there any recommendations you could give me?"

"Certainly, there would be a few fitting machines for this case we have on sale right now. Would you like me to tell you the pros and cons of each?"

"Sure, why not, let's do that."

"Hey, that's cheating, Kagamin~." Konata finally understood what was going on.

"I don't remember agreeing to any rules, though." She had a slightly smug grin on her face.

"A-Ah, beaten by my own game, huh…?"

"Tehe~." Kagami only struck out her tongue while pulling down an eyelid with her finger.

"It's good that you're cute, Kagamin~." Konata was enjoying her playfulness.

"I know~." Her smile got even smugger, and she then went after the clerk who had already gone ahead for some reason. Hearing him say that they should just explode was probably just Konata's imagination, though.

"Hehehe…" Konata silently followed her with a small chuckle.

"Okay, the following washing machines would be the most fitting ones for a small household of two…" The clerk began explaining the differences between each machine and which is the best for what.

"I see, I see…" Even though Kagami was listening intently and nodded in fixed intervals, she had absolutely no idea what the guy was even talking about, but her poker-face had become good enough to be able to hide it, and she let the clerk talking for a while longer before she made her _decision_. "Hmm… Okay, after thinking about it, I guess we'll be taking number three."

"Certainly, I actually would've recommended the same."

"Y-Yeah, it's the most logical choice after all…" Beads of sweat began to form on Kagami's forehead because it became difficult for her to keep up her poker-face. She chose machine number tree purely on a whim after all. Even after listening to everything the clerk explained to her, she still understood a single thing after all, but she was happy to have made the right choice.

"Woah, nice guess, Kagamin~." Konata, on the other hand, could see through her with ease.

"Ahaha, w-what might you be talking about, K-Kona…?" Her façade entirely crumbled with that.

"Hehe, well, I also would've chosen the same. So, who cares about the small details."

"Yeah, let's not tell dad about those small details, okay? I have chosen a good washing machine, and that is all he needs to know, right?"

"Sure, let's go with that, Kagamin~."

"Thank you very much." After having, somehow or another, decided on a washing machine, the couple left the area and began looking for TVs for their living- and bedroom.

"Oho~, things are finally getting interesting." Seeing all those TVs in front of her, Konata became very excited.

"Don't overdo it, okay?"

"I would never… I'm merely looking for the biggest TV around~…"

"That's the very definition of overdoing it, Kona."

"Nonsense!" She wasn't listening to Kagami at all and continued to happily look around until she suddenly stopped. "Oh my god…" Her eyes were fixated on one place and started sparkling.

"What is it now? Oh, no… no!" Kagami followed her line of sight and quickly started panicking because the store actually had an 80" TV on display right now. "No, nonono, no! No, Kona, no. No, bad!" She couldn't deny it enough, and it somehow ended up sounding like she was scolding a dog.

"Kagamin~."

"No."

"But…"

"No!"

"It's on sale, though…"

"NO!"

"W-Why are you so mean…?"

"No! Ah, I mean, shut up…" The no came before Kagami thought about the question.

"No chance? Really?"

"Not even the slightest." Kagami wasn't yielding, no she couldn't yield here because Konata's look was serious and she would totally buy the TV if Kagami didn't stay strong now.

"You're such a meanie, Kagamin~…" She actually started pouting a bit.

"Let's look at some more reasonable sizes, okay?" She tried negotiating with Konata.

"For example?"

"Hmm, let's see…" Kagami looked around and then pointed at a 40" TV. "How about that one?"

"Oh, okay, sure, looks good." She was surprisingly cooperative. "Well then let's get that one for the bedroom and for the living room, well…" She wasn't cooperative at all in the end, and her eyes strayed towards the 80" TV again.

"Kona~." Her voice sounded sweet, but her eyes looked scary.

"Okay, okay… fine, fine, fine!" Konata felt just a little intimidated by her looks. "So, okay, we aren't getting the 80" TV…"

"Thank you for finally listening, Kona."

"I wonder if they have a 75" TV somewhe- OUCH!"

"Can I hit you, Kona? I really want to hit you…"

"Y-You just did!" Konata massaged her arm with teary eyes that had just gotten in contact with Kagami's fist of rage.

"No, that wasn't a hit, just me warming up, you know?"

"I-I see…" She went very silent all of a sudden.

"Now, calm down already, Kona. So, don't you think the TV I showed you earlier is big enough for the living room?" She pointed at the 40" one again.

"No." Completely void of any emotion or facial expression, Konata gave a cold, but powerful answer.

"Okay…" Kagami had tried to talk her into a more reasonable size, but it seemed like she started too low and looked around again. "How about that one over there instead?" This time, she was pointing at a 47" model.

"Hmm…" She at least showed a reaction this time.

"Still not enough, huh? What a stubborn girl I have…"

"Oi!" She wasn't necessarily wrong, but Kagami was the last person Konata wanted to be accused of that by.

"Haa… Let's see…" Kagami looked around once more, and her gaze stopped at a 55" TV now. "Okay, that one really is big enough now, don't you think?"

"Hmmnng…" Her reaction got stronger. "Wellll… It's not that bad…" Kagami basically got her. "Wait, how about that one over there instead?" Konata also noticed that she was about to give in and quickly made an attempt to get a bigger size while pointing at the next best one.

"A 65" one, is it?" Kagami looked at the TV Konata was pointing at in a hurry and thought about the size. "Hmm, I think that's a little too much, Kona."

"Come on~." She wasn't happy with that answer.

"Ah, wait a moment, Kona, let me get some help for my side." Kagami had spotted a store clerk and wanted to cheat again by asking him for opinions. She explained things like viewing distance between the TV and sofa amongst other things and hope he would help her case.

"I see. Okay, with the size of the room and the viewing distance, I would say that a 65" TV with a high resolution would be the perfect fit." The clerk wanted to sell things, so of course, he would recommend the bigger TV if the circumstances, the room, in this case, allows it.

"E-Eh…?" Kagami didn't expect such an _unexpected_ betrayal.

"Hehe, serves you right~." Konata was pleased with how the situation turned out, though.

"T-That still doesn't mean we have to get the bigger one…" She refused to give up.

"Nonono, we really should listen to the professional guy here."

"Shut up, Kona."

"Okay, how about this…" Konata faced the clerk and began explaining their situation. She told him about the washing machine they had already chosen earlier and how they need two TVs in total, a big one for the living room and a _slightly_ smaller one for _another_ room where it's supposed to get mounted on a wall.

"Mh-hmm… Let's see…" The clerk thought about something and then spoke up again. "I think I could offer you two different bundles here. The first one would include the washing machine, that 65" TV over there and, uhm… Yes, that 40" model next to you for about… well…" He had pointed at two different TVs and then began entering some numbers into the tablet he was carrying. "Yes, I could offer you the bundle for a total of 240 000¥, including taxes of course. Okay, for the other bundle, let me think…" The clerk looked around again and then pointed at two completely different TVs. "Yes, the washing machine again, together with the 55" TV there and the 32" one I just showed. That would end up being…" He typed something into his tablet again. "I think I could offer you this bundle for 180 000 ¥."

"Oho~." For Konata, the decision was already more than evident.

"Hmm…" Kagami was wavering. She didn't want to admit it, but the first bundle with the bigger TVs was actually really good.

"Ah, I forgot to mention something…" Because the clerk was a professional one, he immediately noticed that Kagami was about to give in and so he went for the kill. "We're running a promotion for that particular 65" TV right now. If you buy it this week, you're getting that new game console that came out recently for free on top of it."

"Sold!" After hearing this, Konata didn't even wait for Kagami's answer anymore, nor did she care about her opinion at this point anymore.

"Yeah, I guess that's fine…" Kagami still thought that the TVs were a little too big, but with a great offer like that, there was nothing she could say any more.

"Certainly, thank you for your patronage." The clerk seemed happy as well and got the paperwork ready. "I assume you want to get everything delivered, right?"

"Yes, that would be the best." Konata gave him the address, and he entered into the system. "Ah, could you add a wall mount for the smaller TV to the delivery as well?"

"Of course, that's no problem… Let's see, a wall mount for a 40" TV… That would be an extra of… Oh, they're cheaper than I remember… Well, I'll add it free of charge because the two of you made such a big purchase."

"Really? Thank you very much." Kagami was happy to save a little money after Konata splurged so big on the bigger TVs.

"Ah, wait a moment please…" Konata stopped the sales guy from finalizing the order. "Would it be possible that we take the game console home with us now? I would like to… _test_ it today or tomorrow already." By testing, she obviously meant playing all night long, of course.

"Absolutely, we can do that." The clerk had no objection. "Okay, the delivery is free of charge, that's a general service of our store and, oh, do you girls have a preferred delivery date? It would even be possible to already get it the day after tomorrow."

"Ehm, no, we bought a ton of furniture earlier next door that's getting delivered next week. Would it be possible to get the electronics delivered on the same day?" Kagami asked for another date because it would make no sense to get the deliveries on different days.

"Ah, yes, that's not a problem. It's actually pretty common because people often go to both stores her as it's under one roof. Just give me the order number you got at the furniture store, and we'll sync our delivery with theirs."

"Oh, that's pretty convenient." Kagami finished up the detail with the sales guy, and the couple finally left the TV area again.

"Hey, how about we each get a game for our new game console, Kagamin~?"

"Do you really think we should spend even more money now?" She didn't overly like her suggestion.

"Don't be like that~. What use would a game console without games be?"

"F-Fine…" Kagami had lost pretty quick to her inner gamer self. "But, I'll pay my game with my own money!" She felt that Konata had spent more than enough already.

"Sure, do it however you like, Kagamin~. Ah, with the saved money, I guess I'll get a second controller then. We need two anyway." Konata gave her absolutely no choice of winning in the electronics store.

"Haa…" Kagami gave up with a strained sigh.

"Hehe." Konata was happy with her response, and the couple began looking through the games corner to find something that interested them.

After each having found a game, Konata also grabbed an extra controller, and the couple was about to head over to the checkout area again when Kagami stopped her again.

"Hey, Kona, look at that…" She pointed at a coffee machine with lots of 'SALE' tags plastered all around it. It was a pad-type machine that was significantly reduced from its original price.

"Want to get it, Kagamin?"

"Really, can we? You know that I already liked coffee before, but I became a huge fan of it when we were studying for our entrance test…"

" _Fan_ , huh? That's a weird way of pronouncing _addiction_ , you know?" Konata remembered their study sessions and how Kagami's coffee consumption got bigger with each passing week in order to stay awake.

"H-Hey, it's not that bad, okay…?" She tried to deny it, but it wasn't very effective.

"Sure~."

"You came to like coffee more as well, didn't you, Kona?" She had seen Konata with a cup of coffee more often as well during their studies after all.

"And whose fault do you think that is?" Konata had to drink it more often because otherwise, it was impossible for her to keep up in their study session where Kagami was full of caffeine and was even more motivated than usual because of that.

"I'm sorry…" She felt _slightly_ bad about it.

"Nah, it's fine~. Sure, let's get the coffee machine. It's super cheap, and I did come to enjoy it."

"Yay, thank you very much, Kona~." Kagami was way too happy about this, and she, together with her caffeine addiction thanked her for agreeing.

"Maybe you should tone down your consumption, though…"

"It's fine, it's fine~." She brushed it off like nothing.

"Sure…" Konata gave up on the topic because it was no use, grabbed one of the coffee machines, and the couple finally went to the checkout.

After adding the coffee machine to their delivery as well, Konata paid for everything, even Kagami's game because it was too much of a hassle for her with splitting things. Leaving behind almost 260 000¥ in the store, the couple left with the game console, the two games and an extra controller only.

"Woah… It's getting so damn expensive…" Kagami was complaining about the money again.

"It's fine~." She used Kagami's answer from earlier to brush it off as well. "We're actually still more or less in the budget. I wanted to spend about a million ¥ on everything, and we're currently at… Let's see… a little under 940 000¥. Excluding the games and stuff, and rounding it up slightly generously, we have about 100 000¥ left…"

"A million ¥…" Still being in the budget, Konata had set up, didn't make Kagami feel relieved in the slightest.

"Let's get going already~." As usual, Konata completely ignored her complaints.

"You're way too carefree, Kona."

"If being happy with investing in our future equals being carefree, sure, I like being carefree then, Kagamin~."

"…" Kagami had nothing to say in return and changed the topic. "Y-You wanted to get going, right…?"

"Ehehe~. Yeah, we still need a few things after all." Konata simply played along.

"What do we need again?"

"Ehm… Let me think… Tableware, cutlery, kitchenware like pans, pots, and other kitchen utensils… Oh, and bedding-related things."

"I see… Ah, wait, we still have a ton of bedding stuff like blankets and pillows at home that's still completely new because no one wanted to replace their old things."

"Really? That's great because we can skip a whole store then."

"Perfect!" Kagami had slowly enough of their shopping trip.

"Good, let's go to the kitchenware store thingy…" Konata wasn't sure how the store was called.

"Let's do that." The couple entered the store and casually looked around for a while.

"How about we split up, Kagamin~?"

"Hmm, what do you mean?"

"You see, it's getting late already and I'm _slightly_ tired from the shopping…"

"You're not alone with that."

"So, to get it done more quickly, how about we split the work? You're going to choose the tableware and cutlery and I everything cooking related?"

"Ah, that's what you mean, sounds like a plan. Wait a moment, why this way and not the other way around?"

"Because… I don't really care about the design of cutlery and tableware, but, more importantly… I don't trust you in the slightest with the other task…" Konata sounded rather cruel, but she had a point. "There's just no way you would be able to choose fitting pots… no, anything cooking related as a whole."

"Don't you think that's a bit too harsh, Kona?"

"No." She didn't hesitate at all with her answer.

"Cutlery and tableware, you said, right? Okay, let's meet up later then~." Kagami had only protested for the sake of protesting. Deep down, she knew perfectly well how right Konata was.

"That's the spirit, Kagamin~."

The two split up, and each went on their own to look for their respective tasks.

About 40 minutes passed, and the couple met up at the entrance again. Kagami was carrying two boxes with a set of tableware and cutlery each, and also got some cups on top of it. Konata, on the other hand, went all out. Her tiny body was totally overloaded with things. Some pots, two pans, a wok, a couple of kitchen knives, ladles, and many other things, some of which Kagami had never seen before in her life. She really should've gotten a cart because everything was about was about to topple over, but Konata hadn't thought about that.

"Oh, nice, you also got some cups. Good thinking, Kagamin~, I totally forgot about them."

"Yeah, and you got _everything_ else in the store, huh? Do we really need all those things?"

"Kagamin~, Kagamin~, you simply don't understand~. In the first place, that's actually just a starter-set of things I absolutely must have… I'll still have to get a lot more things in the future, but those can wait for a while, and I'll probably steal some, no a lot of these utensils from dad's kitchen~." Konata was in serious mode.

"I see…" Kagami gave up. Even though she had leveled up the level of her cooking skills quite a bit, she was still in no position to tell Konata what they need in the kitchen and what not.

The two went to the checkout and paid for everything. Because it was too heavy and too much to carry, they used the delivery service of this store as well and left after leaving about 100 000¥ behind. Even though Kagami had tried to look at the price a bit with her cutlery, cups, and tableware, she found out that kitchenware is surprisingly expensive. Especially after Konata got so much.

"And with this, our budget is basically empty~." Konata somehow looked satisfied. Combining everything the couple had bought today, they had spent about a million ¥, the sum that Konata had planned for setting up their apartment.

"So that means we actually spent a little too much, huh? We still need some deco after all, don't we?" They had gotten everything they _need_ , but Kagami had the feeling the apartment would feel a little cold and impersonal without that.

"Ah, the deco… I totally… forgot about that…"

"Yep, decorations…" Just like the last time the couple visited their apartment, the two had still no idea what to even get as decorations for their home.

"Well, it shouldn't be too expensive, right? A couple thousand ¥ aren't going to make much of a difference."

"Yes, a fortune, or a fortune and a little extra on top of it… basically the same…" Kagami sounded a little broken.

"Anyway, shall we head home already, Kagamin~?"

"Oh my god, yes!" She was waiting for those words. They could still talk about the decorations at another day.

….

The couple finally left the shopping center and were surprised that it was already dark outside. It actually wasn't that surprising, though, because Konata and Kagami had spent over ten hours in there and the stores were actually about to close already.

With nothing more in their hands than a game console, two games, and an extra controller for said console, the rest is getting delivered, after all, the two headed home after a long, exhausting, and extremely expensive day. On their way back, both began chatting about their shopping trip and how stupid they ware, mainly during their furniture hunt.

"Today sure was fun, huh~?"

"You think so? I have mixed feelings about that, Kona…" Kagami couldn't agree with her.

"Oh, looks like my sarcasm skill leveled up for you not to notice…" Konata wasn't serious with her evaluation of the day after all.

"Ah, I see…" She was too tired to detect sarcasm. "We sure were stupid today, huh? I mean, even more than usual…"

"Yeah, today really wasn't our best day…"

"Especially our fight about the bed… It thankfully wasn't a big one, but that still wasn't nice at all. Let's not do that again."

"I wholeheartedly agree with you on that, Kagamin~. How that fight ended was typically us, though." Konata remembered how they ended up choosing the same bad anyway in the end while they almost started making out on it in public.

"We're idiots after all." Kagami had no problems with calling herself an idiot for a long time already anymore. "Well, everything ended well, so, who even cares~?"

"Carefree Kagamin~, I love it."

"All that being said, I still want to go shopping with you for anything big anyway soon again, though, Kona."

"Interesting for you to say because I feel exactly the same about that. Word for word even." Neither of them wants to go through such an ordeal again in the near future. Furniture shopping with the partner, especially with strong personalities and differences in their tastes isn't nearly as fun as one would expect.

"But, you have to promise me one thing now, Kona. Take it easy with the money spending now… We, I mean you, just spent a m-million ¥…" She had just a small stroke while saying it out loud. "… and you'll never know what's going to happen in the future." Kagami came back to her favorite topic, lecturing Konata about money.

"Yes, mom, I won't… After we got some decorations, a few other small things we probably missed today, and a ton of cosplay for you, I'll save the rest of the money for eventualities."

"That's reassuring to hea-… OI!" Kagami had almost overheard the last part.

"Damn, so close…"

"You'll do it anyway, won't you?"

"T-There's absolutely no way that I… no way that I _won't_ do it." Konata had entirely faked the part of being flustered. "I'm starting to think that you know me a bit too much, Kagamin~."

"Ehehe~. Just don't overdo it again, Kona, please."

"Yes, I'll do my best and hold back to some degree."

"Thank you very much."

Konata and Kagami continued to about various things while heading back home and also had dinner at in a conveniently placed fast food restaurant on the way.

The couple arrived at home, Konata's place, of course, after a while and were greeted by Sojiro.

"We're home~."

"Welcome back, you two. You sure took your time. How was i-…"

"Just don't ask!" Both shut him up before he could even finish his sentence.

"Okay…" Sojiro could feel that something happened, but he was too scared of them to ask. "Well then, going on, easy question… You two went out for furniture shopping and other things for your apartment, right?"

"Yes, that's more or less what we did today, why…?"

"Then, why's the only thing that you're carrying that game console that's peeking out of the bag there?" Sojiro pointed at the plastic bag in her right hand.

"Well, you see…" Konata began explaining how their furniture is getting delivered to the apartment next week and that they got the game console as a bonus for buying a TV.

"Ah, that's how it is. You sure were lucky, huh?"

"Absolutely." Konata was happy about her new console.

"By the way, do you want my help next week then? I'm sure I can free up a day or two from work." Sojiro offered his help for setting up the couple's apartment.

"Hmm…" Konata thought about it. "Kagamin~ and I want to try it alone first. It's going to be our home, and so we want to give our best alone first."

"Well, for most things, that is." Kagami corrected her a bit. "We'll definitely need help with the big and heavy things. It would be great if you could help us with those, Sojiro. I mean, I don't think Kona and I can carry a washing machine or mount a TV on the wall."

"Fair point. Can you help us with those things a few days after we set things up, dad?"

"Of course, I would be happy to be of any help. Just give me the details one you know when."

"Sure, thanks, dad."

Konata and Kagami finished talking with Sojiro and went upstairs to Konata's room. The couple set up their new game console and themselves comfortable on the bed as usual. They had a lot of fun with the new games and played for about an hour or two, but because the day had completely tired them out, the two went to sleep soon enough. Luckily, both were rather free for the next days because the delivery of the furniture and other things was due for next week. Thanks to that, Konata and Kagami had a lot of chances to thoroughly test their new game console. Even so, the delivery date was quickly approaching, and the couple started to get ready to head over to their apartment again.

* * *

…

* * *

Furniture shopping is a major pain in the ass! I can personally guarantee you that, if you have only slightly different tastes and strong personalities, it's not going to be any fun. I can still remember when we moved into our current house and need like twice the furniture of Konata and Kagami here… never again! Next time, everything will get bought online or something like that. If not for decorations and other small things, I'm never entering an IKEA or the likes again.

Their 'fight' wasn't overly detailed because I'm not good at writing that, but whatever… I hope you still got the general idea of it.

Anyway, moving on, what did I want to say again…? (The rant made me forget things)

The whole thing of the couple moving into their new apartment, but after not even ¼ of my concept, this chapter had already happened. That's why I'm splitting up the whole thing. This time was furniture shopping, and next time will be the delivery and assembly. Part three will be connected, but something else entirely, though. You'll see what I mean when it happens.

Don't think too hard about the ¥ prices. I only did a quick search of things without accurate prices for the furniture and other things. Just convert the prices €/$/Whatever by 1/10 and it kind if fits to some degree, I guess. 100 ¥ being 1€/$. The actual exchange rate is _slightly_ different, but it somewhat works…

The second part will come out in… Well, fairly sure it'll still be February by then.

Fun fact: The idea with Kagami's caffeine addiction happened purely on a whim after I had my third cup of coffee that day when I wrote the scene… (It's fine, though, I'm totally not addicted to that stuff as well…Totally not.)


	49. Apartment Part 2: Furniture assembly

After having gone shopping for their new apartment together, Konata and Kagami had a couple free days until everything will get delivered and those were badly needed because the shopping trip was extremely tiring for the two.

Unfortunately, those relaxing days were over again before the couple even realized, mainly because they got a new game console and just couldn't stop playing because the two had too much fun. The next week arrived in a flash, and both had to head over to their apartment because today was supposed to be the day where their deliveries are going to come. The two packed a couple clothes, pillows, blankets, daily necessities, and a couple other things because Konata and Kagami had planned to stay a few days there. After they finished packing everything they needed, the two left Konata's house and arrived at their apartment in Yokohama after the usual commute and entered into their new apartment.

"We're back~." Just stepping inside was already enough for Kagami to be in a good mood.

"How creepy would it be if we got an answer now?"

"S-Shut up, idiot!" She didn't want to think about it.

"Hehe, so, let's get going already." The couple got rid of their shoes at the entrance and then went to the kitchen because that was the only place that isn't going to stuffed with cartons of furniture and the likes in the near future. There, two got rid of their coats and the bags they were carrying.

Afterwards, the couple chatted for about an hour while looking around in their apartment until the doorbell rang.

"Oh, looks like the first delivery is here."

"Seems like it, yeah." The two opened the door, and sure enough, a delivery guy was waiting with a couple parcels for them.

The delivery guy placed them in the hallway, and after getting a sign Konata, he quickly left again. The couple opened a box and noticed that the stuff for the kitchen like the cutlery and tableware, including Konata's tools including pans, pots, and the likes were the first to arrive.

Konata wanted to start sorting them into the fitting cupboards already, but the sound of the doorbell ringing again stopped her from doing so.

"So much for that…"

"They sure are on time, those deliveries, huh?"

This time, two delivery guys were waiting for the girls because they were carrying the electronics. The big TV and the washing machine were impossible to carry alone after all. The washing machine went directly to the bathroom, but everything else was placed in a corner of the living room. After getting a sign from Konata as well, they were gone before long again. Grabbing the carton of the coffee machine, Kagami, followed by Konata went to the kitchen again.

"The first thing Kagamin~ secured is the coffee machine, huh? Just what should I do with you…?" Konata couldn't help the teasing about it.

"T-That has nothing to do with my _slight_ fondness for coffee, you know?!"

"Slight fondness, huh? Isn't that what every addict says to their drug?"

"L-Like I said…" Kagami was still trying to deny her caffeine addiction, bit Konata obviously didn't believe her. "T-The coffee machine belongs in the kitchen, right? It only makes sense to bring it with me if we go there, right?"

"Ah, that's how it is, I see~." She decided to play along with her.

"A-ny-way, how about you continue to sort what goes in which cupboard while I set up the coffee machine? You know, that electrical component that belongs into the kitchen, which we're currently in, while setting up things."

"Okay~." Konata had still much to say, but she opted against it because Kagami looked like she was about to get scary again.

"Very well." Kagami's smile actually was scary already.

With that, the two continued to get the kitchen ready. Konata sorted the pots, pans, kitchen utensils, cutlery, tableware, cups, and whatever else into the fitting cupboards while Kagami was busy fiddling with the coffee machine.

Some hours passed, and the two were back to killing time again because they were done with the kitchen and Kagami might or might not had a cup of coffee to test the machine, or maybe it was even three cups, but who was counting anyway. One thing was for sure, though, she definitely didn't want to have a fourth cup when the doorbell finally rang again.

"Ah, it looks like the furniture has finally arrived…"

"Yep, and not a single minute earlier than expected…" Kagami sounded sarcastic for a reason. The furniture was supposed to arrive three hours ago, but neither of them believed that would happen anyway. So, three hours later was a way more realistic time. Rather, the two were surprised that the kitchen stuff and electronics arrived on time.

The couple opened the door, and a small armada of delivery guys was at the other side. The two told them what goes in which room and the delivery guys busily began moving the boxes in the corresponding places. Not even 20 minutes passed until about a million boxed were littered all over the apartment, and Konata and Kagami were alone again.

"Well, that was fast…" Konata was impressed.

"Yeah, even though they were late, those guys sure knew what they were doing…" Kagami was also impressed by the speed of how fast the boxes were transported into their apartment.

"Well then, she we start, Kagamin~?"

"Of course! Just with what…?" She looked around, and all she saw was cardboard literally everywhere.

"Hmm… How about the bedroom? Because we're going to sleep there tonight, and it's already afternoon, the bed should be our highest priority right now, don't you think?"

"That's an excellent idea, Kona, let's do that." Having decided on a room to start with, Konata and Kagami went to their bedroom.

….

They unwrapped the four huge cartons of the bed and were shocked by the contents. The couple was looking at like a billion pieces, screws, and various other things both had never seen in their lives before.

"Erm…" Konata was just scratching her head.

"Oh, I think we made a huge mistake by not getting the assembly service as well…" Kagami also looked overwhelmed by all those parts.

"That coming from you, huh…? You saw how expensive that was, didn't you?"

"Ah, right, there was that…" Kagami remembered the price list and quickly changed the topic back to the problem at hand. "Okay, where do we start?"

"Hmm… Have you seen the assembly instruction manual… thingy somewhere…?"

"Manual, huh…? Let me see…" Kagami looked around and found an instruction _book_ hiding beneath some packaging material. "Ah, there it is… wow."

"Wow indeed…" Konata wasn't expecting such a heavy lecture and opened a random page. "Eh… Wait a moment… That's not Japanese, is it…?"

"Seriously?!" Kagami looked at the book and quickly had a dumbfounded expression. "Kona… While I agree that the language really isn't Japanese, it looks like something European, you're also holding it the wrong way up…"

"R-Really…? You never know when it comes to the Latin alphabet…" Konata was a little embarrassed and quickly turned the manual around. "Ah, now it makes more sense… Thanks, Kagamin~."

"Wait a moment, what do you mean by it makes more sense now? Don't tell me you can read it?! Because that's definitely not English, you know?! Even you should see that…"

"Hmm… It looks like German, I think… Let me see… A… Au… Auf… ba… bau… Aufbau… an... anle… Aufbauanle… leit… leitung… anleitung… Aufbauanleting, is what it says… More or less, I think…" Konata had a hard time with the pronunciation, but something similar to a word came out at the end.

"Ehm… eh... wait… what?" Kagami couldn't understand what just happened. "Y-You can speak German, Kona?! How? Why? What?"

"I had to play a game I was interested in with German text because there was no translation available and it looks like something got stuck from back then…

"Seriously…? I really can't say whether you're amazing or something else entirely right now…"

"Ehehe~." She took it as a compliment. "Anyway, it looks like we're going in the right direction…"  
"Really? What doe _auf… aufba…_ That word you said earlier mean?" Kagami didn't even try to get the pronunciation right and gave up before it became too embarrassing.

"Erm… No idea about the first part, but _anleitung_ means something like instruction or manual, if I remember right."

"I see… Well then, good luck with the rest, Kona."

"Yeah, no… not happening."

"I figured as much… Wait, aren't those manuals usually Multilanguage? Isn't there some table of contents thing at the beginning?" Kagami wasn't seriously expecting here to read the German instruction manual for assembling the bed.

"Oh, you're right. Japanese… Japanese… Ah, there it is, page 346… Really, 346?!" She found the Japanese section and was shocked by the page number.

"They sure went all out on that thing, huh?"

"Absolutely… Okay, step one…" Konata looked at the instructions, but suddenly turned the whole manual upside-down again.

"What are you doing, Kona…?"

"You see, either I was holding it wrong again, or I think you need a doctorate degree to be able to understand that thing…."

"You're just overreacting, aren't you?" Kagami looked at the manual as well and tried to understand step one for starters. "First, locate the board 32.1a-C2:50 and attach the metal angle XP-15.5/2y_4 at the pre-drilled holes, using the screws 15-b/4:30 and 20-d/6:45… Ehm… I think that's the German manual again, Kona…" She didn't understand a single thing.

"Nope, you're on the right page, Kagamin~."

"… What?" She turned the book upside-down as well, but it naturally wasn't making any sense this way, either. "Are they serious…?"

"Thank god I'm not the only one…" Konata was relieved that Kagami as well didn't understand the instructions. "How about we spread everything out in the room and look if the pieces are marked or something like that…"

"Yeah, let's do that." The couple got up from the floor and began spreading out every part that was in the boxes of the bed and it actually only barely fitted in the bedroom. Thankfully, the two then noticed that most pieces had little stickers with the part-numbers printed on it, but they weren't entirely happy about the situation.

"Is it just me, or are those way too many parts for just a bed…?"

"Nope, it's definitely not just you, Kona." Kagami nodded while looking around. Their bedroom surely wasn't small, but the parts were still literally everywhere.

"We should've taken up dad's offer and accept his offer to help us…" Konata began to regret that she boldly announced that the two wanted to do it on their own.

"That's true…" Kagami felt the same. "Oh, look at that, I found the board 32.1a-C2:50!" She suddenly lifted up one of the pieces the instruction mentioned in step one and seemed really happy about it.

"S-Seriously?!" Konata was almost too shocked about it.

"Okay, let's try this again!" Having found the right piece to start with, Kagami had an extreme rise in her motivation.

"Oho, that's the spirit I was missing~!" Konata also felt motivated again, and the two gave their best.

Once they had step one completed, the couple continued to make slow, but _un_ steady progress throughout the whole ordeal. It didn't take long, because it took a small eternity and a few minutes on top of it, and something similar to a bed began to slowly form in their bedroom.

As it turned out, the couple was wholly and utterly incompetent when it came to assembling furniture. It was a medium sized that they were even able to finish setting up the bed at all because it sure didn't look like it was working at all during the process. Once Kagami and Konata looked out of the window, the two were in for yet another shock. It was already completely dark outside, and after checking the time, they found out that it was late evening already.

"Wow, that sure went well…" Kagami couldn't believe that it took them like half a day just to get their bed assembled.

"We're _slightly_ behind schedule, aren't we, Kagamin~?" Konata tried to take it with humor.

"Just a bit… More importantly, now that I'm aware of the time, I'm suddenly pretty hungry…" Much like Konata, Kagami had slightly interesting priorities from time to time.

"Yeah, I could eat something as well. Should we test whether the delivery services around here are any good?"

"That's a very good idea. Let's see…" Kagami took out her phone and looked for nearby delivery services on it. "Hmm… How about pizza?"

"Tuna please~." She seemed to like the suggestion.

"Sure thing. So, what should I get…" Kagami thought about it for a while and opting for a pizza with chicken, she called the delivery service. "40 minutes, huh…?"

"Want to unpack the dresser while we wait?"

"Not really, no." Kagami wasn't a fan of the idea.

"Just taking a peek? Maybe it's easier than the bed, you know?"

"Well, we eventually have to do it anyway, don't we? Might as well do it now…" Kagami gave up on protesting, and the couple began unwrapping the two packages that contained the parts for the dresser. 15 minutes passed, and the bedroom looked once more like a battlefield. Weirdly enough, the dressed seemed to be even more complicated.

"Nope, not happening." Konata just shook her head as she had the same opinion as Kagami now.

"Absolutely no way…" The couple looked at the billion dresser parts and gave up entirely because it was simply no use.

"I guess it's time for the last resort, huh?"

"It looks like it, Kona…" Kagami grabbed her phone again and dialed a different number. "Hey, sis~…" Because there was no way Konata and Kagami would be able to assemble the furniture on their own, they had to call for help, and Tsukasa was her only choice because the couple's parents are coming over in a couple days at the earliest. The two had wanted to do it on their own, but that option simply wasn't available anymore. She put Tsukasa on speaker so that Konata could hear her as well.

[Oh, hello, onee-chan, what's up?]

"Kona's also listening.

[Ah, hey, Kona-chan.]

"Hey-hey~."

[So, what's wrong? Did something happen?]

"Ehm, well…" Kagami wasn't sure how to answer Tsukasa's question. "It's a little complicated."

"You see, the housewarming party is canceled for now…" Konata added her own part.

[Hmm?] Tsukasa obviously didn't understand.

"And so, could you come over before that? Oh, and also bring Miyuki with you."

[Huh…? Eh, sure, but what is even going on?]

"It's a little embarrassing, but it seems like Kona and I are _slightly_ incompetent when it comes to assembling furniture…"

"We need help!" Konata de-complicated Kagami's explanation further.

[I see… Wait a moment, please. Yuki-chan is here as well, so I'll put the two of you on speaker as well.]

"Why am I not surprised?"

"Shut up, Kona."

[Good evening, Konata-san and Kagami-san.] Miyuki joined the conversation as well, and the usual group was complete again.

"Hey~."

[So, what was that about helping again?]

"Ah, right… Kona and I wanted to set up the apartment on our own, but that was a huge mistake… The two of us needed like half a day just to assemble the bed, and…"

"If it continues like that, Kagamin~ and I are finishing up things around June, I guess…"

[Is it really that bad]

"It's even worse." Miyuki got her answer in stereo.

[Are you sure we're going to be of any help, onee-chan?] Tsukasa wasn't sure whether she was the right person to ask.

"I hate to say it, but absolutely no one could be any worse than Kona and I…"

"I'm Kona, and I agree with Kagamin~."

[Okay…] Tsukasa wasn't used to Kagami readily admitting that she's bad at something. She was sure that it was serious now. [We would love to help.] She was happy that her sister wanted to rely on her. [Ah, wait, what about you, Yuki-chan?]

[Ehm, sure, sounds like fun.]

"Ahaha…" Konata and Kagami couldn't agree with that.

[Oh, onee-chan, would it be possible for us to sleep over? We could help two days then.]

"Sleeping over, huh?" Kagami thought about it. "We bought a sofa that can be converted into a bed, so it would theoretically be possible, but we need to set it up first then tomorrow."

[Cool, that's a yes then, right?]

"Sure, two days are better than one after all."

[Yay!] Tsukasa sounded happy about being able to stay over.

[Kagami-san, Konata-san, do we need to bring anything for sleeping over?]

"Let's see… Oh, you need pillows. Oh, you need pillows. Blanket should be fine, we have a spare one here. Well, if you're cool with sharing one, that is~."

[Y-Yes, that shouldn't be a problem, Konata-san. Right, Tsukasa-san…?] Miyuki sounded a little embarrassed over the phone.

[O-Of course, it's okay.] Tsukasa's reaction was similar.

"Ehehe~." Konata had her fair share of fun with them.

"Thank you so very much, you two." Kagami managed to stay serious.

[It's no problem, onee-chan, we're happy to be of help.]

[It is as Tsukasa-san says. When should we come over tomorrow?]

"The earlier, the better, I guess."

[I understand. I'll try my utmost to wake up Tsukasa-san in the morning then.]

[E-Eh…?] Tsukasa, who tended to sleep into the late afternoon lately, hadn't thought about that yet.

"I count on you, Miyuki. As her sister, I allow you to resort to forceful methods as well."

[I understand.]

[O-Onee-chan?!] She began to panic.

"Good, I'll mail you the address later then."

[H-Huh? Oh, okay, onee-chan…] Tsukasa noticed that she had lost.

[Well then, see you tomorrow.]

"Bye-bye~." Kagami and Konata ended the call, and the two were happy that they're getting help.

"Thank god they agreed to help us…"

"Extra help, get~."

"Kona, we aren't going to continue assembling the dresser, right?" Kagami was looking at the chaos in their bedroom and let out a sigh.

"Why should we? We're getting help tomorrow after all." Konata didn't feel like continuing either.

"Good." She felt relieved about it.

The couple passed about 10 more minutes with chatting until the pizzas the had ordered finally arrived. Using a big box of still unassembled furniture as a makeshift table and two smaller ones as chairs, the two had a somewhat unusual looking dinner. 20 minutes later, the pizzas were gone, and the two seemed satisfied.

"I think we can order there again in the future."

"Yep, they were pretty good." The first delivery service had passed their inspection. After cleaning up, the two were unsure what to do next.

"So, now that we've decided to ignore the furniture, what should we do for the rest of the evening, Kagamin~?" Konata looked around, but wherever her gaze ended, only brown cartons came into view.

"Hmm… How about a change of pace and we go outside for a walk?" Kagami had enough of the boxes around them.

"Oh, yeah, let's do that." Konata agreed to the plan, and the two got ready to leave.

Leaving their apartment, the couple exited the building through to the lobby. Walking around a bit, they eventually entered the small park near their apartment complex. There, Konata and Kagami sat down on a bench and enjoyed the fresh air while reminiscing about the day and feeling extremely stupid.

"I can't believe we're actually even too incompetent to assemble furniture…" Kagami was embarrassed just thinking about it.

"No, it's all the instruction manual's fault…" Konata tried to shift the blame.

"You think so?"

"Nope, not all. Well, it's a little complicatedly written, but it's just too embarrassing to admit because it's surreal just how bad we're at it…"

"Yeah…" Kagami knew it was right, but she couldn't help feeling dejected either.

"Well, we're getting help tomorrow, so all's fine~."

"As long as Tsukasa and Miyuki are any good at assembling furniture, that is."

"I-I'm sure they are…" Konata began having some doubts.

"Let's just hope for the best."

"Anyway~." Konata changed the topic. "Isn't it great that we're finally here? Only our graduation from high school at the end of the next week is left before our new life starts here."

"That's true." Kagami had no better words. "I still can't fully believe it. It's just too good to be true…"

"Hehe~, don't worry, it's all real."

"Mh-hmm…" The struggles from earlier were already forgotten. "Kona, I love you." Kagami faced her, grabbed her shoulders, and then gave Konata a kiss on her lips. Konata returned the kiss after a short moment, and the couple exchanged a couple more of them. It was already dark in the area, so they didn't need to worry about being spotted.

"I love you, too, Kagamin~." They parted again after a while, and Konata returned the reaffirmation of her love.

"Ehehe~." Kagami had heard those words countless times already, but they still made her beyond happy.

"You sure are cute~."

"I know, but you aren't half bad either." Kagami was in an excellent mood. The couple enjoyed each other's company for a while longer, but Konata spoke up soon enough.

"Well then, how about we head _home_ again? I forgot how cold it still is, especially during the evening after the sun's gone…" Konata was still as sensitive to the cold as ever.

" _Home_ , huh? Sure, let's go _home_." She had taken a liking to a particular word in Konata's sentence.

"So damn cute…" She couldn't believe her luck with the girlfriend she got. She grabbed Kagami's hand, and the couple went back to their apartment while smiling from ear to ear like the idiots they were.

…

Arriving in their apartment, the two thought about what they should do for the rest of the evening and night again because it was still too early to go simply to sleep.

"Any idea how to spend the rest of the day, Kona? Not that there's much to do here right now…"

"How about… Oh, how about we temporarily set up the smaller TV in the bedroom and watch a movie while we get comfy in our new bed while trying it out?"

"Hmm… Interesting idea, but… are you sure that's a good plan? After assembling the bed and giving up on the dresser, I somehow have a bad feeling about it." Kagami was wondering whether it was a good idea for them to try installing the TV or not.

"Now that I think about it… Yeah, let's not do that after all." Konata understood her concern. "Do you have another idea, Kagamin~`?

"Let me think…" Kagami looked around to get an inspiration, but then she suddenly looked like she remembered something that could help. "Ah, I totally forgot that I brought my new laptop with me." After she had passed the entrance test and got accepted to the college, Kagami got a new laptop from her parents as a reward and to use it for her college studies. "How about we watch a movie on that instead?"

"Oh, nice idea, let's do that."

"How about we start with a bath before that, though?"

"Yes, that's even better." Konata liked that idea very much.

"Let's go then."

The couple got a couple spare clothes and towels, together with some other things and went to the bathroom. After the tub was ready and the two had cleaned themselves, they entered the water and seemed to be really relaxed while taking a long soak. The big tub was really worth its money, not that the two needed a big one, but it was incredibly nice not having a cramped feeling. Once Konata and Kagami were done with their bath, they went to the bedroom, but there were still some preparations left before they could get comfortable there. The bed was still basically just a mattress right now, but adding some sheets, pillows and a blanket quickly solved the problem, though. Afterwards, the two didn't waste much time and directly made themselves comfortable on their new bed. Using a loosed board from the still unassembled dresser that was lying around in the room as a temporary stand for the laptop, Konata and Kagami began relaxing on the bed while watching a random movie they found online.

Roughly half an hour passed, and the two were ready to give a first evaluation of their new bed, but from the happy looks of them, the answer was already evident.

"So, what do you think, Kagamin~?"

"I like it. It was almost worth the fight we had in the store before getting it, almost."

"Mh-hmm…" Konata actually didn't want to remember that day. "But, yeah, we bought a good one." She liked the bed as well.

Once the couple had finished the movie, the actual endurance test for the bed was about to begin. The test of comfortableness was passed, but there were still _various_ other things the bed had to survive. Also, the first night in their home had to be appropriately _celebrated_ after all.

Many _things_ were tested that night, and the bed passed everything with ease and luckily survived it as well. Kagami also hadn't forgotten the promise she gave Konata on Christmas when she told her about the apartment. Because Konata had planned everything on her own without even telling her anything, Kagami promised to claim every single _first_ in their new home as _revenge_. A high amount of very interesting _firsts_ were claimed during that night.

….

The morning of the next day arrived way too quick, and the couple looked rather tired for some reason. After Konata and Kagami got up, the first thing they did was taking a long and thorough shower for _various_ reasons.

Once the two were _clean_ again, both retook a look at their apartment and let out a big sigh. Everywhere they looked at, the only things that came into view were cartons full of furniture, or in the case of the bedroom, pure chaos in the form of packaging material and parts of their still unassembled dresser.

"Haa… I hope Tsukasa and Miyuki are coming soon…" Kagami felt depressed just looking at it.

"Haa… I hope Tsukasa and Miyuki are better at assembling furniture than us…" Konata's concern was slightly different.

"Let's just not go there, Kona." She tried her best to stay positive.

"Yes, it'll be fine…" Konata hoped for the best as well.

The couple passed the next hour with chatting and cleaning up their bedroom. Both were a little hungry, but breakfast was somewhat tricky because the two had absolutely nothing food-like at home. Thanks to that, the only thing they had in the morning was a cup of coffee, or a couple in Kagami's case while they were waiting for Miyuki and Tsukasa to arrive.

Luck was on their side, and the two arrived not long afterward. It seemed that Tsukasa actually managed to get up early on her own because she was so excited about finally seeing the apartment of Kagami and Konata. Their early arrival made the couple extraordinarily happy because that meant they're getting a lot of help today.

Miyuki and Tsukasa entered the apartment and immediately began to excitedly look around at the entrance before even getting rid of their shoes. Once they, mainly Tsukasa, calmed down, Kagami guided them to the kitchen because that was the only play they could store their coats right now.

"Wow, your kitchen is awesome!" Tsukasa fell in love with the couple's kitchen at first sight.

"Yes, it looks very nice." Miyuki liked it as well.

"I'm sooo jealous!" She wanted to have a kitchen like that for herself as well.

"Ehehe~." Konata and Kagami were happy about the praise.

Once they had enough of the kitchen and had gotten rid of their coats and bags, the couple gave Miyuki and Tsukasa a tour through the rest of their home. Even though the two were slightly overwhelmed by the number of boxes, both seemed to like the apartment very much.

"It's sooo nice here!"

"Tsukasa-san's right, it's a charming apartment you found here, Konata-san, Kagami-san."

"We know~." The two _almost_ sounded like they were bragging about it.

"Ah, I almost forgot… Kona-chan, onee-chan, have you two had breakfast yet?"

"Only some coffee."

"Onee-chan…" It seems like Tsukasa was aware of her sister's _slight_ caffeine addiction.

"I-It's fine, you know?! A-Anyway, why are you asking, sis?"

"Yuki-chan and I bought some bentos at the train station in Tokyo because getting up early and preparing breakfast was too much for me… We got some extra for the two of you because we assumed you had no food here yet."

"Really? Thank you very much. It's exactly as you say… We have absolutely nothing here right now…" Kagami was glad for her thoughtful little sister.

"It's in the blue bag in the kitchen."

"Okay, thanks. Is it okay if we eat it now?" Kagami was rather hungry.

"Sure, go ahead. Ah, can Yuki-chan and I take a look at the already unpacked dresser in your bedroom? I want to find out how complicated it is to assemble."

"Of course, that's why we asked you two to come over today in the first place. Go ahead and try your luck with it."

"Okay~."

That being said, the group split up. While Kagami and Konata went to the kitchen to finally have breakfast, Miyuki and Tsukasa disappeared into the bedroom of the couple. Konata and Kagami finished eating in a little under 20 minutes, and when they decided to go to their bedroom as well to look how the two were doing, they were beyond shocked.

"Ehh…"

"W-What?!" The couple couldn't believe their eyes. The two had hoped that Miyuki and Tsukasa had understood the manual by now because that would already be a considerable accomplishment in their eyes, but that was a grave misjudgment.

"Ah, Kona-chan, onee-chan, how was the bento? Just give us five more minutes and were done with the dresser, okay?" Far from being able to understand the manual, Tsukasa and Miyuki were already applying the finishing touches to the assembled dresser.

"Where do you two want to have it placed?" Miyuki also ignored the couple's state.

"S-Seriously?!"

"W-What?!" Kagami could only repeat herself again.

"Did we do something wrong, onee-chan…?"

"N-No, that's not it…" She didn't even know what to say in this situation.

"How is it even possible to be this good at assembling furniture?!" Konata was more direct about the problem the two were having right now.

"Ehh, are we?" Tsukasa wasn't aware just what kind of miracle she and Miyuki had performed in the eyes of Konata and Kagami. "It was really fun, you know?" She only made it worse.

"Indeed, I also had fun while assembling the dresser. The instruction manual's very logically structured, and I like this kind of precision work." Adding insult to injury, Miyuki dealt the finishing blow to them.

"Haa…" Konata and Kagami weren't sure how they should feel about this, but they were convinced that it certainly wasn't a good feeling, though, and so they only let out a strained sigh.

"Aaand we're done~." Tsukasa and Miyuki moved the dresser into the right spot. "How does it look, Kona-chan, onee-chan?"

"Ah, uh, yes… very good… Thank you very much… you two are a real lifesaver…" While their eyes resembled those of dead fish, void of any life, the couple didn't care anymore and just accepted reality while being at least happy that they got competent help.

After the dresser was assembled and put in place, the girls left the bedroom and went to the living room because it's the priority for the day. Miyuki and Tsukasa are staying over, so they needed a place to sleep on after all, and that would be the sofa in the living room.

"With what should we start…?" Miyuki looked around, but there were so many boxes around that she was too overwhelmed to choose.

"Hmm… Starting with the sofa would probably the best because it's the place you two are going to sleep on tonight. We should make sure that this is finished at least." The couple bought a sofa that could be converted into a bed extra for cases like this when friends are staying over. Without that being ready, Miyuki and Tsukasa would have no place to sleep on.

"Oh, yes, that makes sense, Kagami-san." Miyuki agreed to her plan. Thankfully, the sofa was extremely easy to assemble. After getting rid of the plastic foil that was wrapped around the three parts of the sofa, they only had to connect those parts with a few screws. Even Konata and Kagami would've been able to do this. Probably, at least. Once it was finished, the girls sat down on the sofa to take a short break.

"Oh, it's super comfy~." Tsukasa had immediately taken a liking to the sofa.

"Yes, it's indeed very comfortable. I also like the design and color. The dark gray looks very nice." Miyuki had a favorable impression of it as well.

"Ehehe~." The couple was happy to hear their praise.

"What should we do next, onee-chan?" Tsukasa was in a good mood and quickly wanted to continue.

"Let's see… Maybe we should split up. Working with four people would be too much, especially because Kona and I are only going to stand in your way…" Kagami had accepted her position. "How about you two assemble the bookshelf over there while Kona and I _try_ to assemble the lowboard for the TV?" She pointed at the boxes next to the sofa where the bookshelf was contained in.

"Okay, let's do that~." Tsukasa was so happy she could help her sister and Konata that she was way too motivated. Miyuki followed her a moment later, and the two began unwrapping the bookshelf with quick movements.

"Should we do our best, too, then, Kona?"

"Well, we should at least try…" Konata wasn't very optimistic about the about the whole thing.

The couple went over to the big box of the lowboard and began unwrapping it as well. 20 minutes had passed, and while Miyuki and Tsukasa were already making good progress, Konata and Kagami were still busy with mainly littering the whole living room with packaging material. Another 15 minutes went by, and the couple had finally found the bottom piece and the other things that were asked for step 1. in the assembly manual of the lowboard. Miyuki and Tsukasa's progress was outstanding again. Actually, while the couple was still busy with the first step, those two were about to finish the bookshelf already. Once it was finished and put in place, both of them then went to assemble the sofa table because they had nothing to do. After that was done as well, the two joined the couple because they were still struggling with the lowboard.

"Sooo frustraaating…" Humiliation would be the best word to describe Kagami's feelings right now.

"Mh-hmm…" Konata wasn't much different from her.

Even though the couple still didn't like the situation where they were feeling way more stupid than usual, both still had no choice other than accepting Miyuki's and Tsukasa's help. Once the two had joined Konata and Kagami in the assembly of the lowboard, they suddenly made extraordinary progress, and they finished things up before the couple even realized what was going on.

"Ah, that was fun again~."

"Sure…" The couple began to think that Tsukasa was teasing them on purpose now.

Afterwards, the group went over to the dining area of the living room to take care of the dining table and its chairs. Each girl grabbed a carton with a chair and started assembling them. Needless to say at this point, Miyuki and Tsukasa had already finished their chairs and began assembling the table while Konata and Kagami were still struggling. By the time the couple had barely finished their chairs, the other two were already done with assembling the dining table as well without the slightest problem.

"What should we do now, onee-chan?" Tsukasa's motivation was still over the top.

"How about calming down for starters?" Kagami couldn't deal with her sister's excess energy right now.

"Miyuki, how about you and Tsukasa go to the kitchen and prepare some tea. Could you do that? I think it's time for another break…"

"That's an excellent idea, Konata-san. Tsukasa-san, should we go?"

"Yes~."

"Good. In the meanwhile, Kagamin~ and I will clean up here. The packaging material made quite the mess after all."

"Shouldn't we help with that?"

"No." Kagami interrupted her. "That's the only thing Kona, and I can do here…" They weren't any help during the assembling.

"I-I see…" Because there was nothing nice for Miyuki to say here, she remained silent, grabbed Tsukasa, and went to the kitchen.

"Let's start cleaning up then, Kagamin~…"

"Yeah…" The couple was a little bit depressed.

While the two were busy cleaning up, 15 minutes quickly passed. Miyuki and Tsukasa had finished preparing the tea and came back to the living room. Everyone got together at the dining table and enjoyed a cup of tea while relaxing a bit. While drinking, Miyuki and Tsukasa looked around and seemed interested in the living room that was mostly done now.

"Konata-san, Kagami-san, the furniture looks really nice. Was it hard to find?"

"…" The mood in the room suddenly changed, and the couple awkwardly faced each other. "Ahaha…" While letting out a dry laugh, they looked away again.

"D-Did something happen during your shopping trip last week?" Seeing their reacting, it wasn't a hard guess for Miyuki.

"Well, you see…" Konata began explaining what happened during their furniture shopping, about how difficult it was, and how it ended up in lots of arguing and even having a fight.

"W-Wow…" Miyuki hadn't expected it to be that much trouble.

"Heh, so one-chan and Kona-chan are actually capable of fighting with each other…" Tsukasa's cause for being surprised was slightly different, but Miyuki gave her a nod because she had a point. Tsukasa knew that their usual bickering and teasing had nothing to do with fighting after all.

"Well, even if we had a fight, Kona and I made up the next moment we saw each other, though…"

"As expected from the two of you."

"Although we made up immediately, I still can't recommend furniture shopping to beginners at all, right, Kagamin~?"

"I'm never doing that again with you." Kagami's opinion on the topic was pretty clear. "Next time, we have to move to a different place where we need furniture, we're drawing lots to decide who's responsible for which room and then go shopping for it individually…" The couple had already thought about a plan for the next time.

"I will take those words to heart. Then again, sadly, I don't think Tsukasa-san, and I will be in the same situation _that_ soon…"

"Yuki-chan…" Tsukasa was touched that she imagined a future where the two of them would also move together eventually.

"Ahem…" It was Konata's and Kagami's apartment, so they're the only ones who are allowed to openly flirt here.

"S-Sorry…"

"Just kidding~." Kagami actually just wanted to tease them.

"By the way, how about we set up the TV in the living room?" Konata noticed that the TV was more or less the only thing missing. "It could get rather boring in the evening without it…"

"That's true." Kagami agreed with her. "My laptop's also too small to let four people watch a movie one it. Maybe the smaller TV for the bedroom would be better, though. I don't think we'll be able to get the bigger one out of the carton without damaging it, and it's way too expensive to risk it…"

"That's a good point, Kagamin~. So…" Konata looked at Miyuki and Tsukasa with an expectant gaze. Those two were way better at setting things up after all.

"Even if you look at us like that, Kona-chan…"

"Yes. You and Kagami-san should do the TV on your own. If something goes wrong with that when the two of us do it…" Miyuki didn't want to be responsible for breaking the TV.

"Miyuki, you are aware that the furniture you carefreely assembled in record time until now was already several more times expensive than the TV, right? Well, I do understand what you mean, though…" Konata more or less could see her point. "Okay, Kagamin~ and will try to get the TV running."

Having agreed to it, the couple began unwrapping the smaller TV that was supposed for their bedroom to watch some movies on it with everyone in the evening. In the meanwhile, Miyuki and Tsukasa went to the Japanese room that was connected to the living room and continued their assembling spree there. The two knew by now that they were really good at it and because Konata and Kagami weren't going to of any help anyway, they had no problems with leaving the couple behind and not waiting for them.

Konata and Kagami had successfully unwrapped the TV and began assembling it. Surprisingly enough, it was going reasonably well. It seems like the couple was multiple times better at handling electronic things. Maybe the reason for that was because those things typically don't have many parts. For the TV, after unwrapping it, the two only had to attach the foot with two screws, and they were done already. They placed it on the lowboard and began setting it up afterward. Using the cable for the TV-reception that was already up and running, Konata started an automatic channel scan in the setting, and the TV soon returned a clear image.

Once the TV was successfully set up, the two went to the Japanese room as well to join up with the other girls, and, as usual, already, they were astonished by the view. One of the lowboards was assembled already, and Miyuki and Tsukasa were already in the middle of unwrapping the second one.

"Those two could really make a living as professional movers or something like an assembly service…"

"Absolutely…" The couple had nothing else to say.

"Nope, not interested." Tsukasa had heard them.

"I agree, that's not something I want to do." Miyuki, aspiring to be a doctor, also had other plans for the future.

"Hehe." The couple started chuckling because the two actually took it seriously.

"Well then, I guess the best would be to let them have the other lowboard as well, huh?"

"That's true, Kona. It's not like we could help them anyway." Kagami agreed with her. "Should we try our luck on the kotatsu instead? That should be easy enough, even for us…" She wasn't sugarcoating it all anymore.

"We basically only have to attach the legs to the table and installing the heating unit together with the blanket to make a kotatsu out of the table, right?"

"That should be more or less it." Feeling motivated, the couple began unwrapping the kotatsu parts. They actually made some progress and only 20 minutes after Miyuki and Tsukasa finished up the second lowboard, the kotatsu had been completed as well. From an outsider's point of view, that was an awfully long time to assemble a kotatsu, but for some reason, Miyuki and Tsukasa looked extremely proud of the couple. Not that the two liked this warm gaze very much, but there was nothing they could do or say in their defense.

"Okay, now that the kotatsu's finished, we just have to get in, right?" Konata was drawn in by the comfortableness and warmth that was radiating from the kotatsu.

"W-We should at least properly test it…" Kagami could also hardly resist the temptation. So the couple said, before quickly getting under the blanket. Having nothing to say against it, Miyuki and Tsukasa followed suit. They had a similar opinion about it after all.

"Haa~…" Not even a minute had passed until Konata's face melted on the table.

"Yeah~…" The other three girls looked exactly the same as her. Everyone was entirely defeated by the comfortableness of the death trap called kotatsu.

About half an hour passed and the group was in full relaxation-modus when Konata managed to say a couple words again.

"Okay, I think, well not really all of us, but you know what I mean… did enough for today… How about we take it easy for the rest of the day?" She and Kagami didn't do that much, but they tried their best at least.

"Yeah~…" Miyuki and Tsukasa were so comfortable that they couldn't even muster a full answer.

"But, before that…" Kagami wanted to say something as well. "It's already late afternoon, how about we get something to eat somewhere?" She hadn't eaten anything since breakfast after all.

"That's a good idea, Kagamin~. Ah, it's on us, you too, so you can get whatever you want." Treating Miyuki and Tsukasa was the least the couple could do.

"Oh, thank you very much, Kona-chan. What kind of places are around here to eat?"

"No idea."

"Yeah, absolutely none…" The couple knew about café's, supermarkets, and many other things, but restaurants weren't a part of it.

"I see… Ah, Yuki-chan, didn't we saw something restaurant like on the way here?"

"You mean the time when we got lost after leaving the station…?" Miyuki began thinking about their way to the apartment. "Ah… I wouldn't call it a restaurant, but it doesn't seem like a bad idea. If I remember right, it was a yakiniku place." _[Grilled meat]_

"Y-Yakiniku?!" Kagami didn't even try to hold back with her reaction. The mere thought of freshly grilled meat in large quantities let her gulp down her saliva in anticipation.

"Y-Yeah, sounds good…" Konata knew that look, a look where she has to be cautious not getting eaten instead, and not in a good way. "Do you two still know where it is?"

"Yes, while we got lucky finding it by accident, it really isn't that hard to find when you look for it." Miyuki remembered where it is.

"Good, let's go then~." Kagami was rather excited about it.

"Yeah…" The answer of everyone was weak because no one really wanted to leave the kotatsu.

….

A couple minutes passed and after a lot of complaining and whining, Kagami was finally to motivate the girls to get up. The group got dressed and left the apartment. They found the yakiniku place reasonably quickly, it was actually not far from the apartment and went inside. Luckily, they arrived at a good time where the place wasn't busy, and the girls didn't need to wait. Needless to say, everyone was really hungry after a day of hard work, and they totally overate themselves on the meat. Especially Kagami was almost unable to move for a while after finishing. To promote their digestion after a heavy meal, the girl decided to have a little walk around the vicinity. After Kagami was able to walk again, that is. While walking around, Miyuki and Tsukasa were attentively looking at everything around them.

"Yokohama surely is a nice city. Even though it's more or less right next to Tokyo, the feeling is somehow completely different." Miyuki lives in Tokyo herself, but this place had a unique charm to it.

"Maybe it's because we're closer to the sea here, at least compared to the place you're usually are in Tokyo, Miyuki." Kagami had an idea of why it felt different.

"Oh, that might be it. The air does taste a little saltier here, now that you mention it."

"I like it, though."

"Yes, it's indeed very nice."

"So unfair~!" Tsukasa became jealous again. "Such a nice city, an awesome apartment where can do what you want, and you have it all on your own…" It seemed like she would go on like that for a while.

"Miyuki, do something about her…" Kagami didn't want to deal with it again.

"W-Why me…?"

"Because it's the job of the girlfriend to deal with these kinds of situations." Konata also didn't want to be involved.

"I see… It seems like I still have much to learn." Miyuki hadn't noticed that the couple just merely didn't want to take care of it and thought about a plan to cheer the pouting Tsukasa up. Then, after it seemed like she had found something, Miyuki walked over to Tsukasa and whispered something into her ear. After that, Tsukasa immediately calmed down with a goofy grin while Miyuki looked somewhat flustered for some reason.

"Ehm… What just happened…?" Kagami had her problems with understanding the situation.

"Yeah… Somehow, I feel like it's better not to ask, though…" Konata also had no idea what was going on, but it seemed like another situation where they shouldn't be involved.

"True, it seems like it would be a major pain…"

Once the _incident_ was dealt with, the group continued to walk around and also went grocery shopping in a nearby supermarket because the couple had as good as nothing edible in their apartment. The girls got some drinks, snacks for the evening, and a couple ingredients for breakfast the next morning.

…

Once the shopping was done, the four went back to Konata's and Kagami's apartment and began the preparations for a relaxing evening. They got the snacks and drinks ready before getting comfortable on the sofa. While Konata was zapping through the channels to find something interesting to watch, everyone else was already busy with relaxing and snacking sweets away. Once she found something everyone like, Konata followed suit and did the same. The couple had also gotten ready some blankets for extra comfortableness, and the group was having a nice time while enjoying a movie.

"It's so nice here… I'm really happy for you and Kona-chan, onee-chan." Before, Tsukasa was simply jealous, but now, she was genuinely happy for them. Whatever it was that Miyuki had whispered to her earlier, it was really effective.

"Yes, Tsukasa-san's right. You've made yourself a really nice home here. It must be nice to have a place on your own where you don't have to hold back in the slightest." There was a hint of enviousness in her voice, but Miyuki managed to hold back.

"Thanks, you and Tsukasa are always welcome here."

"I agree with Kagamin~, you two can come over whenever you want, and this apartment is a 'holding-back-forbidden' zone. No one is _allowed_ to hold back here~." Konata had particular rules for their home.

"That's very nice. We might actually take up on this offer, tight, Tsukasa-san?"

"Yes, we're coming to visit very often, Kona-chan, and onee-chan." Because the two are still hiding their relationship, Miyuki and Tsukasa can't be as open as they want most of the time and a place where they can, is more than just welcome.

"Feel free to do so."

"Yay~."

The girls kept watching TV while feeling incredibly comfortable. The mood was really nice, and the two couples soon began cuddling with each other. That was usually the forte of Kagami and Konata, but Tsukasa and Miyuki had taken their offer to heart and were really into it. It seemed like the two were low on cuddle power because a lot had pent up lately. Having had almost no time for their own for a long while, but had a lot of catching up to do.

Kagami and Konata noticed their _problem_ as well and decided to leave them some room.

"Haa… Somehow, I'm quite tired… What about you, Kona?" She let out a fake yawn.

"Yeah, it was a long day…" Konata understood her intention and played along. "Okay, Kagamin~ and I are going to our room. Miyuki, Tsukasa, you two can keep… watching TV, if you want."

"Ah, oh… okay, sure…" They were too busy with something else that the two needed a moment to react to the couple.

"Want us to help converting the sofa into a bed first?" Seeing the two all busy with each other, Kagami felt like they would probably forget that the sofa is capable of being a 2-in-1.

"Ah, yes, that would be a great help, thank you very much…" Judging by their reaction, it seemed like Kagami's guess wasn't that far off the mark.

Everyone helped, and the sofa was converted into a full-size bed with more than enough place for two people in no time. Miyuki and Tsukasa also got their pillows they brought with them. Once everything was done, Kagami and Konata left the two alone and continued their own cuddling session in their bedroom.

Miyuki and Tsukasa got comfortable and the bed now and continued where the two stopped earlier. The TV was still running in the background, but neither of them was paying any attention to it anymore. Being completely on their own now, the two weren't interested in the TV at all anymore after all. Instead, both were entirely focused on each other and words also weren't needed anymore. Their cuddling soon started to change into something more as they began lightly making out. It seems like both of them had already completely forgotten about Konata and Kagami in their desire for each other.

Tsukasa got even closer and then kissed Miyuki. She began with a kiss on her forehead because, thanks to their position of leaning against each other, it was the easiest place for her to reach. After that, she moved to her cheek and Miyuki started to react. She moved a bit as well and, to return the favor, she kissed Tsukasa on the forehead as well, but then directly went for her lips instead. Tsukasa immediately returned the kiss, and the two exchanged many more of them in the same way. The mood was incredibly heated up, and the two were in like a trance. Nothing except the person in front of the other was of importance. The kissing became more intense as their tongues that were rhythmically playing with each other became part of the party, but it still wasn't enough for Tsukasa. While continuing to kiss her, her hand moved beneath Miyuki's shirt and began her way up inside it.

"Mnng~." She shuddered once Tsukasa's hand made contact with her skin and let out a muffled moan because their lips were still connected when Tsukasa's hand had reached her destination. Said hand made contact with Miyuki's bra, and Tsukasa quickly realized that it actually was a front hook. Thanks to that, it was out of the way in a matter of seconds, and she had free reign of the insides of it.

"Mmmh~." Miyuki's reaction, together with the feel of her breast in her hand, made Tsukasa let out a moan as well because the last remaining part of her reason snapped as well. She pushed Miyuki down on the sofa while pulling up her shirt in the progress and her other hand went for Miyuki's still free breast.

"Ngnh." Being swept away by the situation, she let out another moan while she let do Tsukasa however she liked on top of her. After a while, Miyuki finally tried something as well and began copying her. Her left hand disappeared inside Tsukasa's shirt, but she wasn't having it quite as easy. Realizing that Tsukasa's bra had standard hooks at the back, Miyuki used her right arm and hand to fumble around on her back for a while until she finally found the hooks and unhooked her bra. Once Tsukasa's breasts were free as well, she used both her hands and began fondling her just like Tsukasa was doing with her for a while already.

"Ahn~." Tsukasa immediately showed a reaction and Miyuki's reason was gone as well.

She got rid of Tsukasa's shirt as well, and both were only wearing their pants right now. While continuing to fondle their breasts, the couple began kissing each other again, and their completely flushed faces were radiating a heat that could rival a fire, but the sight of precisely those flushed faces only motivated them more.

After a while, Miyuki let go of Tsukasa's lips and began kissing her neck while _accidentally_ leaving behind some marks as she sucked too hard. Out of reflex, because she was surprised, and how good it felt, she accidentally, and unconsciously squeezed Miyuki's breasts.

"A-Annmg~." Hearing a moan from Miyuki that wasn't muffled by her lips for once, Tsukasa got even more turned on. Letting go one of her hands from Miyuki's breast, she began moving down to Miyuki's pants. She awkwardly and eagerly unbuttoned it with one hand, and when she was about to reach into Miyuki's panties, she suddenly stopped and froze up.

"U-Uhm…" Something wasn't right.

"W-What's wrong… Tsukasa… san…?" Full of anticipation for what should've happened, she asked about the problem in a roughened voice.

"Y-Yuki-chan…?" The situation already made her flustered enough, but it seemed like there was something that made her even more embarrassed.

"Ye… Yes…?"

"H-How do I… continue…?"

"E-Eh…?" Miyuki's movements stopped as well, and she let go of Tsukasa's breasts because this was just way too far outside of the range of questions she could deal with right now. "What… What do you mean, Tsukasa-san…?"

"I-I-I mean…" She was incredibly flustered. "We never got as far as today… Not even close actually… and everything up until now happened… on instinct, I guess…? I didn't even know what I was doing because it somehow happened unconsciously, but…" Tsukasa was so swept away by the mood that she was more or less operating on autopilot, but even that had its limits.

"I-I see…" Miyuki knew perfectly well what Tsukasa was talking about because her own memories of the last 30 minutes were somewhat hazy as well. "The next step should have been… The next step… I'm sorry, actually, I have no idea either…" She was operating on autopilot as well up until now. It being her first time and actually putting it into words made her mind go blank as well.

"Is that so…? What should we do now, Yuki-chan…?" The mood had died completely already.

"I don't know… It looks like we skipped a few steps today… I mean, up until now, we mostly settled with cuddling and light making out…"

"S-Should we stop then for today, Yuki-chan…?"

"I guess so…" Both of them sounded disappointed, but the situation was beyond recovering anyway already.

"Okay…"

"Y-Yes…" The mood started to get awkward between Miyuki and Tsukasa. "I-I'll try to look it up for the next time, Tsukasa-san…"

"G-Good…" Thanks to the bizarre situation, the two became even more embarrassed. "Maybe it's actually for the best… I mean, we're at Kona-chan's and onee-chan's place right now, and they're even nearby… We weren't exactly silent either…"

"A-Ah, you're right!" Miyuki had totally forgotten about the two. "D-Do you think they heard us?!" Being aware of it now, she began to panic.

"Well, the two said they were tired when both left earlier, right? They're probably already sleeping, don't you think, Yuki-chan?"

"Oh, yes, that's true… Thank goodness…"

"Should we go… to sleep as well, then…?"

"Yes… that would be for the… best…" There was no use continuing anymore, but it was clear that both of them were terribly frustrated about stopping right before the best part.

Miyuki and Tsukasa put on their shirts again and then individually went to the bathroom to change into their pajamas. Thanks to the awkward mood, the two were too embarrassed to change together at the moment. While they put on their pajamas, both of them also changed into a fresh pair of panties for various reasons. Their old panties were carefully hidden among other clothes so that no one could see them.

After the two were in the living room again, Miyuki and Tsukasa got comfortable on the sofa-bed and were ready to sleep.

"Well then… goodnight, Yuki-chan…"

"Yes, sleep well, Tsukasa-san…"

They exchanged a last kiss and then quickly fell asleep. That was the plan at least. Both of them were still turned on from earlier and the feeling of having things pent up was now stronger than ever, together with the extreme frustration both were feeling, it took quite a while before Miyuki and Tsukasa were actually able to fall asleep in the night.

The two already knew that things are going to be awkward between them tomorrow, but Konata and Kagami, on the other hand, didn't know that it's going to be even more awkward for them because they're going to get roped into their problems as well.

* * *

…

* * *

Who would've thought that Konata and Kagami are not only no good at choosing furniture, but also utterly incompetent at assembling them? Thankfully, Miyuki and Tsukasa were able to help them. Unfortunately, those two are completely incompetent at something as well, something entirely else, though.

I'm also incompetent with writing sex-scenes so I skipped the nights of Konata and Kagami and poor Miyuki and Tsukasa's night turned into a tease. I'm somehow still uncomfortable writing those scenes in detail. It just sounds so awkward when I try to write them in English and so I just don't do them…

Next chapter is going to be really fun for Kagami and Konata, even though their opinion is vastly different on the topic. The next chapter will come out in… March, that much I can say. It's mostly done (80%), but I'm fairly busy lately so I don't know when it's ready.


	50. Apartment Part 3: Wrapping things up

The next morning after Miyuki and Tsukasa had slept over at the couple's apartment arrived eventually, and it was bound to be an awkward day because of what happened during the night. Swept away the mood, Miyuki and Tsukasa almost did it on Konata and Kagami's new sofa, but stopped right before because of a very embarrassing problem. Neither of them actually knew what they were supposed to do. Thanks to this situation and how the two remembered where they were at the moment after calming down, nothing more happened during that night, but a lot of pent-up frustration continued to loom around.

Kagami and Konata were awake for a while already, but the two weren't sure whether it was safe to enter the living room or not, and so they decided to stay in their bedroom for a while longer. The two had excused themselves yesterday under the pretense of being tired, but they just wanted to give Miyuki and Tsukasa some room. To make it short, the couple had heard about everything that came from the living room last night. Konata and Kagami didn't know what the two had talked about during the night, and were surprised that the _sounds_ had stopped so abruptly in the middle of it, but, other than that, imagination wasn't needed for them to guess what happened.

Once the couple had heard the sound of someone leaving the living room in the morning, both waited about ten minutes longer and then finally left their bedroom while hoping for the best.

"Good morning…" Kagami slowly peeked her head into the living room because she wasn't sure what was waiting for her there, but once she saw that it was safe, she entered the room.

"Morning~." Konata followed after her. She surveyed the room as well, but everything looked fairly normal. Afterward, her eyes met with Miyuki, who was sitting at the dining table with a cup of coffee in front of her. Coincidentally, she was sitting in the only seat that had a perfect view at the position where Tsukasa was still sleeping on the sofa, but that had nothing to say, and Miyuki most definitely wasn't enjoying Tsukasa's sleeping face until now.

"G-Good morning…" Miyuki noticed the couple and awkwardly greeted them. "I hope it was okay to use your coffee machine…"

"Sure, that's fine…" Kagami noticed that something was wrong and immediately decided to flee before giving Konata a chance to. "Actually, that's an excellent idea. I'll get myself a cup as well." Now she was even happier that she had bought the coffee machine.

"Haa…" Konata let out a sigh at ho her girlfriend didn't want to deal with anything complicated so early in the morning, but she wasn't much better because she had the same idea and was just too slow. Konata sat down at the table, facing Miyuki from the other side, but instead of asking about what happened because she also felt that it would be better to say silent, she decided to have a light conversation instead. "So, how was the sofa, Miyuki? Was it easy to sleep on?"

"Eh? Ah, uhm, yes… It's very comfortable…" The awkwardness in the room was thick.

"I see…" Konata didn't want to have to do anything either, but she couldn't help the urge to give Miyuki at least the option to talk about it. "Well then, I'll go to the kitchen as well, for now, to prepare breakfast, and preventing Kagamin~ to drink too much coffee. If you want to talk about something, feel free to ask me later. I'll do my best to help."

"T-Thank you very much…"

Once she was done with talking, Konata left Miyuki behind, and after stopping Kagami after she had her second cup of coffee, the couple began preparing breakfast. It was their first time properly using the kitchen for actual cooking, but it went pretty smooth. Then again, it mostly was just some fried eggs and toast, but that didn't matter. Especially Kagami was happy that she didn't blow up their kitchen on the first try.

Miyuki helped them set up the dining table, and the breakfast was soon ready to serve. Tsukasa was still asleep, though. Kagami then went over to her, and after using a couple of her usual tricks, she managed to wake her up with only a _slight_ bit of effort.

Once Tsukasa was awake as well, everyone got together at the dining table and ate breakfast. Following the template of the morning, the breakfast was slightly awkward. Even though they sat in front of each other, Miyuki and Tsukasa were unable to look at each other. The two actually did their best to avoid eye contact on purpose.

Kagami and Konata became increasingly curious about what happened last night, especially because the noises they had heard were rather _lovely_ , compared to the mood right now, but the couple still felt like they shouldn't ask. The two had the feeling that it wouldn't end well for them.

"Okay, how about assembling some more furniture?" The girls had finished their breakfast in silence, and Miyuki urged them to continue. It seemed like she wanted to keep herself busy.

"Sure." Everyone agreed.

The girls went into the hallway and split into two groups. Miyuki and Konata, and Kagami together with Tsukasa each took care of assembling a dresser. There were two reasons for those group constellations. On the one hand, Miyuki and Tsukasa couldn't be in the same group right now, and on the other hand, it made absolutely no sense to leave Konata and Kagami on their own again. Everyone was more than aware of that from yesterday. The girls assembled their dressers without much talking while everyone felt awkward. They finished rather quick because Konata and Kagami mainly played the role of the assistant in their groups, and once they were done, Tsukasa began looking around in the hallway.

"There sure isn't any decoration at all… Is it still not here, onee-chan?"

"Ehm, actually… Kona and I haven't bought anything at all in that regard yet…"

"Eh, why?"

"Because neither of us has any idea what to get."

"Yep…" Konata agreed, it was a real problem for them.

"Really? That's no good at all!" Tsukasa was oddly strong irritated by it.

"We'll get to it eventually…"

"How about now? There isn't much furniture left anyway, is there?"

"Well, not really, but…" Most of the furniture was assembled already, but Kagami couldn't understand why it was so important for her sister all of a sudden.

"Let's go then, onee-chan!"

"You're serious…? Eh, wait!" Kagami tried to stop Tsukasa because she had already begun pushing her towards the entrance. "We should at least all go together…"

"Nah~, we're fine." Konata was standing next to Miyuki and was simply waving her hand. "You can go with Tsukasa, Kagamin~. I don't mind at all." Konata had understood what was going on and then gestured to Kagami that she should look at her sister.

"A-Ah, I see… okay, let's go, sis." Kagami looked at Tsukasa and saw that she seemed somewhat flustered and even desperate. It looked like she was using the shopping trip just as an excuse to talk with Kagami about something.

"Thanks!"

"Bye, bye~." Konata kept waving after them as they left. She had effortlessly noticed that something was up with Tsukasa and she totally wasn't happy that Tsukasa hadn't asked her instead. They surely are going to go shopping afterward anyway, and Konata really would've loved to go as well. She totally didn't think that she was lucky because shopping with Tsukasa is a major pain.

"See you later…" Miyuki waved at them as well, but looked really awkward while doing it.

….

"So, what happened?" The two were alone now, and Konata felt like it would be easier to talk about it now and ask what was going on. She quickly began to realize just how big of a mistake that was, though. Konata walked into the living room because she thought it would be more comfortable to talk while sitting down on the sofa, but she didn't come that far before her brain got fried.

"K-Konata-san… How… How exactly do two girls have sex…?" Completely out of the blue, Miyuki dropped a bomb on a nuclear scale without hesitation.

"…" Not only did she freeze up completely, because she was still walking while hearing it, but Konata also stumbled over her own feet and fell down on the floor like a freshly cut tree. It was too much of a shock for her, and she began panicking not too long after that. "What…? Ehm, w-what?!"

"L-Like I said… H-How do two girls… you know…" Miyuki was obviously embarrassed beyond measurable levels, so she had troubles asking again, but Konata stopped her anyway.

"Y-You don't have to repeat it… Please wait a moment, Miyuki." Konata grabbed her phone, that was luckily with her right now and tried to call Kagami because the situation was way too much for her alone to handle. She tried to call her three times, but Kagami never answered, and she even canceled the last call from her side. It seemed like she was busy right now and couldn't speak with Konata because of that. Once she remembered Tsukasa's expression and acting earlier, Konata had the feeling that Kagami was dealing with the same problem right now and couldn't talk with her because of that. Sighing, Konata put her phone away and faced Miyuki again. She was blushing like crazy right now, and that actually managed to calm down Konata a bit because she looked super cute like that.

"K-Konata-san…?"

"No, don't mind me…" She had regained the ability to think because Miyuki was so adorable right now. "So, could you tell me what happened first? I need a little context."

"W-Well, you see…." After taking a deep breath, Miyuki began explaining what happened last night, including how _unfortunate_ it ended.

"O-Okay…" Konata had conflicted feelings about the whole incident. On the one hand, she was enjoying Miyuki's fidgeting right now, and she couldn't believe just how cute the two were, but, on the other hand, she was feeling just slightly uncomfortable on her sofa right now. Kagami would probably be angry as well because she could claim one first less in their apartment now. "Stains, huh…?" Konata mumbled something that Kagami told her when the two were furniture shopping last week. She looked around, but it seemed like dark gray really was a good choice of color. Then again, the two apparently didn't go all the way through, so it probably needs some more testing. That also meant Kagami would be able to forgive them because they didn't claim a _full fist_ on their new sofa.

"Did you say something, Konata-san…?"

"No, just talking to myself… Anyway, let's see…" She began thinking about Miyuki and Tsukasa's problem. "You know, I don't quite get why you two didn't just simply went with the flow…" They had come rather far already after all.

"I don't know… I don't even know how we got that far in the first place… Both Tsukasa and I usually have problems with taking the initiative because we're usually rather passive when it comes to things like that… Most of the times, we settled with cuddling and a little bit of kissing…"

"Yeah, that's, uhm, yeah…" The concept of being passive wasn't part of her relationship with Kagami, so she had her difficulties with understanding Miyuki's problem.

"H-How are you, and Kagami-san handling _it_ , Konata-san? I imagine the two of you don't have these kinds of problems, right…?"

"Weeelll… Comparing us might not be the best idea… You and Tsukasa are really different for Kagamin~ and me… I have a hard time giving you some adequate advice because of that. 'Just go for it' is the way of living for us, but it obviously wouldn't be the right thing for you…" A couple of the tops didn't have much in common with a couple of two bottoms or rather passive once. Their dynamic, especially in bed is entirely different after all. "I'm not sure if I can be of much help here…"

"Oh, okay, I understand…" Miyuki was visibly sad the Konata was unable to help her.

"Hmm…" She couldn't bear seeing her like that. "Let me think… Ah, want to go out for a while, Miyuki? I might have an idea."

"Of course. Where are we going?"

"You'll see when we get there."

"Okay." She didn't question her any further.

Miyuki and Konata got dressed and left the apartment. After walking for a few minutes, the two arrived at Konata's new favorite place in the city and entered the colorful manga and anime store. She guided her to the 18+ section, and the two stopped at a very particular shelf there.

"You know, this store has a very good yuri, ehm… girls love section~." Konata had a pretty good understanding of the store already.

"I-I see…" Miyuki wasn't fully listening because she was too overwhelmed by her surroundings. It being her first time in the 18+ section of a store, there were many _things_ for her to look at. Konata actually began to feel guilty that she was about to corrupt such a pure girl.

"A-ny-way~." Just a little guilty, though, as she brought Miyuki's attention back to her before her eyes were spinning around too much.

"Y-Yes…?"

"I know a couple good artists that are good at drawing innocent, romantic, and somewhat realistic love scenes. I think it would be a good start for you to get some _inspiration_. How about it?" Konata wasn't the innocent type, so she had to resort to this plan.

"Okay, I'll simply have to trust you, Konata-san." Miyuki had absolutely no experience, and because of that, she had no choice other than believing her.

"Well then, let's see…" Konata began searching through the huge shelf and chose the purest 18+ works she could find. Coincidentally, this store also sells fan works, but none of Hiyori's mangas were among of her chosen ones. After having compiled a wide variety of _lecture_ , Konata handed them over to Miyuki. "I think those are the most fitting for you and Tsukasa."

"T-Thank you…" She was overwhelmed by the amount and the already slightly _graphic_ cover of the topmost manga that didn't look that innocent. She opened a random work from the pile and began looking through it while Konata was having a lot of fun watching her. It was the first time Miyuki read anything 18+ related because she was a good girl who had just turned 18 not that long ago after all. She never would've done something before turning 18. Even though her entire face was dyed in crimson, Miyuki was still showing a healthy amount of interest in the material in her hands.

"Tsukasa sure has gotten herself a cute girlfriend there…" Konata was enjoying the reactions of Miyuki she showed with every single page of the manga she looked at.

"…" Miyuki was wholly immersed in the _story_ and wasn't listening to her in the slightest.

"Ehehe~." Konata continued to watch her for a while, but then had a different idea. "Miyuki, can I leave you alone for a bit? There's something I want to look for upstairs."

"Hmm…? Ah, oh, sure, go ahead…" She didn't even fully register her words.

"Okay, until later then." Konata waved her hand to Miyuki who wasn't paying attention to her whatsoever and went upstairs to the cosplay section of the store. Helping Miyuki with her love life made Konata want to have some fun with Kagami as well and what would get her more inspiration for that other than cosplay.

Konata roamed through the cloth racks full of cosplay for about ten minutes while looking for something that would suit Kagami, but she suddenly stopped in her tracks when she noticed that there was another person around. It was a girl that was looking for cosplay as well that had caught Konata's interest.

The girl was of pretty short height when comparing her to Konata and Kagami, she was actually closer to Konata. It seemed like she was a little below 150cm (4'10-11"), but the similarities with Konata ended with that already. She was able to take one's breath away at first glance. If she weren't into girls before already, or rather still questioning her sexuality, Konata now would've known what's going on. Because it was hot in the store, the mysterious girl was carrying her coat under the arm instead of wearing it. Thanks to that, Konata got a perfect look at her figure and instantly felt defeated in many ways. Thinking of herself as a status symbol became pretty hard just now. Even though the girl's height was on the smaller side as well, her figure was definitely not. She had curves where one was supposed to have curves, and, most importantly, she had breasts that perfectly matched the rest. Not too big, but definitely there and even of a reasonable size. Konata looked down at herself, but quickly focused on the girl again to not get depressed. Her long and fluffy looking blonde, almost golden hair was extraordinarily eye-catching and guided Konata's gaze to her face. The girl's big and round, almost baby blue eyes were her most striking feature, but her small and pointy nose or her red lips weren't any less worth mentioning. Excluding her height, the girl was the textbook example of a foreign beauty in Konata's eyes.

"Woah…" Konata was fascinated by her. A foreign girl that was into cosplay, there was no way she didn't catch her interest. "I wonder if she can speak Japanese. My spoken English is no good after all…" She decided to try her luck and approached the girl because not only did she seemed interesting, she would also be an awesome ally to get Kagami into more cosplay. "Hello there…"

"E-Eh?! Ah, uhm… H-Hello…" The girl hadn't noticed Konata before and flinched once she saw her next to her. She seemed incredibly nervous and looked like she was about to flee as the girl was even shaking a bit.

"D-Do you like cosplay…?" Somehow, Konata accidentally compared the girl to a newborn fawn in her head, and her fidgeting made her nervous as well, making the conversation super awkward.

"Y-Yes, I… I d-do…" Her stuttering got worse.

"I see…" Konata had her fair share of troubles dealing with the girl. She wasn't sure whether she was nervous talking to a native person or just incredibly shy. While Konata was thinking about how she could make the conversation easier, something unexpected happened. "What do you… Eh?" Konata looked at her again, but the girl was actually gone already. She had used her chance to flee while Konata was thinking. "Now, that's awkward… Not that it wasn't before… I wonder what the problem was… I mean, she did understand me, didn't she? It at least looked that way. Well, a foreign person should at least that much when visiting such a place alone, right…? Wait, was she even foreign in the first place? Sure, she looked like it, but why would a tourist visit an anime shop in the middle of nowhere to look at cosplay? Hmm, a halvsie maybe…? But, what was the problem then? Wait, I'm not _that_ intimidating am I…?!" Konata was trying her best to understand what just happened with the girl. "Yep, she was a shy foreign girl that couldn't understand me at all and got scared by that. Yes, let's go with that!" Because everything else would be too hurtful, she decided on that story for her own convenience. "Too bad, she seemed like an interesting girl…" She was feeling a little dejected after this encounter and Konata went back downstairs to Miyuki because she didn't feel like looking for cosplay anymore.

"Ah, Konata-san, welcome back…"

"I'm back~." The instant she saw Miyuki's flushed face from reading all those 18+ mangas, the dejected feeling of hers was immediately blown away again.

"T-There is a question I want to ask, Konata-san…" She nervously held up a manga.

"What is it?"

"In here…" She flipped to a certain double spread page with a lot of censoring where two girls were lying on their backs while being entangled with each other. "Those girls are doing something that they call _s-scissoring_ and…"

"Oh…" Konata's expression changed. "There was something like that amongst my choices, huh? Looks like I made a mistake there…"

"Eh? Is there something wrong with _t-that_ …?" She pointed at the picture again.

"Weeell… I'm going as far as saying scissoring is fake because it's commonly wrongly used as _the thing_ when it comes to lesbians, but…" Konata actually began blushing as well because she couldn't believe what she was talking about with Miyuki right now.

"But…?"

"You see, in my opinion, it just feels slightly good, but it's overall quite pointless and hard to try… Well, without certain _toys_ , that is, but let's not go there… I know that some couples are actually able to pull it off and really enjoy it, but I simply can't understand how it works with people that have, well, legs… They're completely in the way, and you actually have to be careful not to get kicked in the face by your partner's leg… Don't ask me how, or why I know that, though!" Some accident might or might not happened in the past. "I have extremely thin legs because of the rest of my statue, and, despite her constant complaints, Kagami is the opposite of fat as well, but even then, there was no way to get a connection like _that_." Konata pointed this time at a specific area in the page of the manga. "The _aiming_ is super complicated and basically not possible without dislocating a joint, or seven, and it's overall way too much work. Well, there are some, let's say, similar positions that involve _grinding_ as well that work actually quite well, but again, let's not go there today… Haa… What am I even talking about here right now…?" Konata had difficulties with keeping up with the situation. She definitely hadn't planned to go into this much detail, but somehow happened anyway.

"S-So that's not something we should try, right…?" Miyuki was also overwhelmed by the answer.

"Definitely not for your first time, no. But, somewhere in the future, sure, you should at least try your luck. Maybe you and Tsukasa have miracle bodies or legs where the position actually works…"

"Okay, I'll bear that in mind."

"For your first time… Just focus on your fingers and tongue…" Konata's face was as red as Miyuki's right now because she was so embarrassed talking about it with her, but at this point, it was too late anyways already. "Actually, no, forget the tongue as well. It needs a certain amount of training before you even have the slightest idea what you 're actually doing, and trust me, your first time is going to be awkward enough already, even without that… Save it for when you two are comfortable enough with _playing around_ and experimenting…"

"I see, I see…" Miyuki somehow had gotten her hands on a pen and paper and was vigorously taking notes.

"Just focus on your fingers for your first time because you can actually _train_ that before you're doing it with your partner… Just build up on what you're doing when… argh!" Konata couldn't finish her sentence and let out a cry of agony. Talking about their first time was already hard for Konata because she's usually only that open around Kagami or Tsukasa to some lesser degree, but she was still somewhat uncomfortable with being completely open with Miyuki. Somehow even ending up talking about masturbation on top of it was too much for her to handle.

"O-Okay…" Miyuki was still taking notes, but her hand was slightly shaky, and her face was dangerously red by now. She was about to reach her breaking point as well. "I-I should start… _t-training_ then…" Her face actually was capable of getting even redder.

"E-EH?! You never before… NO! Don't answer! I never said anything, OKAY?!" Her curiosity got the better of her for a moment, but Konata wouldn't be able to handle the answer and stopped herself.

"I… I di-…"

"I said NO!"

"Y-Yes…" Miyuki had stopped working correctly at some point, and she wanted to answer without thinking.

"G-Good…" Konata hoped that it was finally over now.

"I-I'll do my best!"

"Sure… H-How about we go home now, Miyuki? I don't even know why we came here in the first place anymore…" Konata explained so much that she actually just wanted to die right now, but going home was her next best idea.

"Of course." Miyuki agreed with her and grabbed the pile of mangas Konata had chosen for her. She was going to buy everything of it.

After ignoring the dubious look of the clerk because even he couldn't deal appropriately with the situation, and leaving behind quite the amount of money, Miyuki and Konata finally left the store again.

On their way back, the two stopped at a supermarket to get a couple groceries because the stuff they had bought yesterday was mostly gone already and the girls still needed something for lunch, not to mention that Konata and Kagami are staying a little longer in their apartment.

…..

While Miyuki and Konata were on their way, a particular foreign looking girl was still outside the anime store, and it seemed like she was waiting for someone. A few minutes passed, and another girl walked around the corner. The cosplay girl being the textbook example of a foreign beauty, the new girl was the traditional, albeit tall-grown, Japanese counterpart with her height about 170cm (5'2"). Silky, jet-black hair that reached all the way down to her hips, super long legs, and, even though she was wearing a coat, one could easily see that the girl had a slim, but very feminine looking figure. Her face was also a perfect fit to her first impression. She had a small and cute face with dark gray, almost black eyes. Absolutely no one would bat an eye if the girl would claim that she's working as a model for a magazine. They would only ask for a sign.

"Ah, Mio-chan, there you are!" The foreign girl saw her and leaped into her arms out of nowhere once she was close enough.

"Hey there, _Naomi._ " She somehow didn't seem fazed at all by her action and merely hugged her back.

"Ehehe~." The shy and foreign girl suddenly didn't seem so foreign anymore, or shy.

"Did something happen? You seem clingier than normal."

"Do I?"

"Uh… So, did something happen?" Mio couldn't give an honest answer.

"I-It was awful, you know!?" Naomi let go of her and started complaining.

"No, I don't, that's why I'm asking."

"I was looking for cosplay while thinking about nothing bad when suddenly another girl showed up and started talking with me!" It somehow was a huge deal for Naomi.

"Yeah, something like that, people talking to you, _does_ happen from time to time… Multiple times a day that is…"

"Maybe for you, but it's a huge deal for me!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know that you're bad with people, but isn't that a bit too much…?"

"Ehm, no…?" Naomi only looked at her with cold eyes. "You know why I'm like that, don't you…?"

"Yes… Just what should I do with you…" Sighing, Mio gave up on the topic and began rubbing Naomi's head because she felt like doing so.

"Ehehe~, that's a good start~." She enjoyed it being spoilt by Mio.

"So, thanks to that girl, you were unable to buy some cosplay, huh?"

"Yes! It's awful!"

"Is it? I beg to differ… Maybe I should befriend her if she keeps you from buying cosplay."

"No… No, I don't like that idea at all, Mio-chaaan~."

"Then stop buying cosplay _for me_ all the time and making _me_ wear it." Her real intention leaked out.

"Nope~." Naomi playfully twirled around on the spot and then began to run away because she wasn't intending on stopping her behavior.

"You…" Not seeming angry at all, Mio ran after her with a smile on her face.

…

While all this, including Miyuki and Konata, had happened, Kagami was having a tough time with Tsukasa as well.

"Ehm…" She was sitting in a café with her little sister and was holding her head in despair. The two were supposed to go shopping for decorative stuff together, but it never came to that. Tsukasa had surprised Kagami with the same question Miyuki had as well, and as a change of plans, the two went to a nearby café to talk. Just as expected, the shopping trip, although there was some truth in it, was basically just a pretense of being alone.

"Onee-chan…?"

"No, don't mind me…" Kagami also had a hard time dealing with her _problem._

"S-So, what do you think…?" Tsukasa had already explained the situation about what happened last night and hoped that her sister would help her.

"Leeet's see…" She really wanted to go home right now. "Why don't you take it easy? Forcing it doesn't sound very nice. Maybe you two just aren't ready for it yet." Kagami tried to go with a responsible and distant answer. "It'll naturally happen eventually, you know?"

"B-But I am ready… T-There's also this weird tension between us lately, so I don't think I'm alone with this…"

"Ahh… I see…" She vividly remembered the tension she and Konata had quite a while ago at the beginning of their relationship when the two were ready.

"I-I am ready… but I just… have no idea what I should do, or rather _how_ … It's somehow gotten super awkward…"

"Yeah, awkward…" She wasn't talking about the same thing as Tsukasa. "Mhm… You know, the first time being awkward is just part of the experience…" She somehow had a distant look in her eyes.

"T-Then, you and Kona-chan also…"

"Just don't ask." Kagami really didn't want to talk about the event.

"O-Okay… Do you really not have any tips for me, onee-chan…?"

"W-Well… There might be one or two things that could be of use…" Kagami couldn't win against the puppy eyes of her little sister and had to accept defeat.

"Really?! Please tell me!"

"There are some helpful articles and… and v-videos…" Kagami felt extremely awkward and embarrassed just talking about, much like her girlfriend who went through the same. "A-At least for me, they were…" She might or might not studied a ton of articles and videos before she had her first time with Konata, or maybe even shortly before they even started dating. She definitely began looking for more _reference_ material after they did it a few times, though.

"What are those videos about, onee-chan?" Tsukasa's innocent smile was too much for her.

"Please let me die already…" She and Konata were surprisingly similar under pressure, and she still continued to help. "I-I'll send some internet links later… okay?" She never felt this awkward before. Actually, that might not be entirely accurate because it had to compete with the time when Kagami had to tell her father why she had to stop being a shrine _maiden._

"Thank you very much, onee-chan! I'll watch them once I get home."

"Be sure to be alone then, though…"

"Why?"

"Y-You'll know once you see them…" Kagami couldn't take it anymore and tried to bring an end to the topic. "A-Anyway… I think that's all the help I can offer…"

"No, that's already more than enough, onee-chan! Thank you very much!"

"I'm glad I could help… Somehow…" She actually wasn't glad at all because Kagami wasn't sure how she should feel about talking with her twin sister about all that.

"You always are! I'm happy I have such a reliable older sister, and I wouldn't know what I should do without you!" She kept dishing out her undiluted praise.

"T-Thanks…" The situation became even more awkward and embarrassing for her. "H-How about we go shopping for the deco already?" Far from _trying_ to change the topic, Kagami stood up from the table in the café and forcefully made them leave. There was no way she could take any more of this conversation after all.

"Okay~."

The sisters left the café and went to a store that was specialized in decorations. The two bought some vases, a couple picture frames, a few posters, figures, and various other stuff. Kagami hadn't expected it because shopping with Tsukasa is usually extremely tiring, but she actually had a lot of fun. Then again, after what happened earlier, absolutely everything would've been fun. They were enjoying looking at various things and chatting about where the best place for it would be. Tsukasa had some terrific ideas that were extremely helpful because Konata and Kagami had absolutely no sense for decorations after all, and the sisters bonded a little more while enjoying their time spent together today.

Once the two went back to the apartment after about two hours of shopping, the twins finally noticed that they had bought way too much because they had severe problems carrying all the decoration. Especially all that useless, but interesting looking stuff had piled up quite a bit.

…

It took them a fair amount of time, but Kagami and Tsukasa had finally arrived and at the perfect time on top of it. Konata and Miyuki were back for a while already had decided to start preparing a late lunch, or early dinner, depending on how you look at it and were about to finish when the sisters entered the apartment. Actually, Konata was the only one cooking because Miyuki was too busy with other things. Ever since the two were back, she had been reading the mangas she bought with great interest.

Tsukasa helped Konata with the last bit of cooking and Kagami, together with Miyuki who had quickly stowed away the mangas, prepared the table together.

The girls are together and then kept chatting for about an hour, but Miyuki and Tsukasa had to head back home soon enough. Tsukasa was wondering what in the huge bag Miyuki was carrying was that she hadn't had before, but Miyuki naturally refused to tell her for various reasons.

….

Once Kagami and Konata were alone again, the two let out a gigantic sigh.

"Haaa… I love them, but thank god they're finally gone…" Konata was extremely tired.

"You had a hard, too, huh…?"

"Yeah, and thank you very much for ignoring my call earlier, Kagamin~…" She was a little angry that she didn't answer.

"Sorry, but I was too preoccupied with other things that needed my full attention…."

"So, helping Tsukasa with her problem wasn't easy either, was it?"

"You have no idea… Being asked by your little sister how to have sex… I literally wanted to die, you know?!"

"Was it hard now? Imagine having the same conversation with Miyuki, the walking Wikipedia that wants to know absolutely _everything_ in little detail…" The two ended up competing for who had it worse.

"A-Ah… I see…" Kagami began to realize that she maybe was actually rather lucky.

"Miyuki even asked about tribadism, and we somehow almost ended up talking about masturbation as well…" Konata looked a bit broken.

"H-How did it end up like that?!" Lucky wasn't even close to describing her feeling.

"Well… I had no idea how I should talk with Miyuki about all that because our relationships are really different… Because of that, I went to the anime store with her and recommended her a couple mangas in the 18+ section that were the most fitting for them. Then, things got out of hand really fast…"

"Kona, what were you expecting when you exposed Miyuki to that kind of thing…?" Kagami did feel sorry for her, but from the sound of it, it was entirely her own fault.

"Ehm… A-Anyway, what did you do to help Tsukasa?" She couldn't give her an answer and changed the attention to her. "Isn't she even more innocent than Miyuki is?"

"Well, I told her to take it easy and not to force it."

"Eh… That's all…?"

"No, I also gave her a couple links to articles explaining the matter… Oh, and also a couple videos as well."

"Oh, that was an excellent idea… I should've thought about that as well… Wait, what?" Konata almost missed the second part and couldn't believe her ears. "You did what?!"

"Hmm? I just sent my little sister a couple videos on how two girls have sex… Oh…" She finally noticed just how weird it sounded.

"I suddenly feel much better with my idea~."

"Okay, while I agree that mine wasn't perfect either, I really wouldn't go that far…" Recommending your friend multiple 18+ mangas didn't sound that brilliant after all.

"By the way~, what kind of videos are those exactly, Kagamin~?" Konata had become very interested in the matter.

"Hmm…"

"Okay, I'll wait then. I mean, we're going to watch them later tonight anyway. You are aware of that, right?"

"Yes, I am…" It was clear from the very start that it would end up like that. "I hope all goes well for Miyuki and Tsukasa." She wanted to change the topic for the time being.

"I'm not concerned about that. Even though they had failed in such a hilariously funny way yesterday, the two wouldn't have faced any problems the next time, even without our meddling."

"Yeah, that's just how those two are."

"Not that we're one to talk, Kagamin~."

"Ahaha~…." She could only laugh it off.

"Ah, you see, while I was with Miyuki in the anime store, I met a super cute girl there." The discussion took a sudden turn.

"Ehh…?"

"A-Ah, no… wait, that came out wrong…" Konata didn't need to see Kagami's look to realize that her wording was really poor.

"It's fine, Kona~. After all, I met that gorgeous girl last month in the sweets store you missed last month as well."

"Like I said… Oh, that's actually kind of true…" Konata was surprised she was still alive, but that had a reason. It wasn't a good reason, and Kagami sounded dangerous, but those details weren't important.

"So, what does she look like~?"

"Ehm…" Konata began to question whether it was a trap or not, but she began describing the girl anyway. "Let's see…"

"Woah, you're right, she does sound to be pretty cute." Kagami seemed to be pretty cool about it in the end. "Wait, what was such a foreign beauty doing in such a shady store?"

"Looking for cosplay."

"I see… Eh…?"

"I know right?! Now you see why I found her so interesting, don't you?"

"Because she was cute, right?"

"Yes! Wait, no! Actually… Maybe about 70/30…" The girl was beyond adorable after all.

"Which ratio is what in this scenario, Kona?"

"T-That doesn't matter…"

"Well, whatever it is, I do agree with you, she is interesting."

"Hehe, wait, with what now…?"

"Hmm… What do you think? The cosplay thing or the part with the cute girl?" While Kagami does enjoy cosplaying, there was no doubt about that, the other thing was way more interesting to her. It seemed like she wasn't jealous that Konata was interested in another girl, but rather that Kagami herself couldn't see her as well. "What happened then? Did you talk to her?"

"…" Konata's mood suddenly worsened as she remembered that part of the encounter.

"What's wrong? It's not like she ran away after seeing you, right?"

"…" She couldn't say a word.

"E-Eh…?" Kagami felt like she stepped on a landmine.

"S-She didn't run away when she saw me… She ran away after we exchanged a few words…"

"S-Seriously…?" Kagami couldn't believe at first, but then suddenly started laughing. "Ahaha~. It seems like she was a levelheaded girl with good intuition, huh? Running away from you definitely was the right decision~. I should've done the same back then~." The situation was just too tempting for Kagami.

"H-Hey…"

"I'm sorry…" She realized that she had overdone it. "I'm just kidding, Kona, I never would've run away from you. She was a foreign girl, wasn't she? Maybe she was just too overwhelmed and got scared because of that…"

"Yep, that's the story I'm going with as well…" Everything else would be too much for her ego. "Next time, I'll approach her more carefully and will definitely befriend her!" Konata's determination was lit.

"Is that so? Well, then I'll look out for the girl from the sweets store. She also was super cute as well." Kagami's competitive spirit was fired up as well. She liked being competitive for the sake of being competitive after all.

"Oh, stupid idea here, Kagamin~. How about both of us befriend them? We could use new friends here in Yokohama, and… this way, there's more eye candy for the two of us…"

"Oh, I like that idea." Kagami agreed to the plan. "But, for the future, let's just mention the finding new friends part, okay…?"

"Yeah… The conversation got just a little bit weird…" The relationship of the couple was as unusual and interesting as always.

"Mh-hmm…" Kagami felt the same. "Ah, now that I think about it… Kona, if that girl really is foreign, doesn't that mean she's only here for a limited amount of time? The chances are high that you'll never see her again…"

"A-Ah…" Konata actually realized that possibility just now. "W-What should I do now?!"

"Fly after her~. No, it's not like it's that much of a deal, is it?"

"Fair point… But you better make sure to find that black haired beauty then."

"S-Sure… I think we're drifting into weird territory again…"

"A-Ah… Okay, time for a new topic, Kagamin~."

"That's a good play. Any ideas, though?"

"Well, there are still a couple more things we need to set up in the apartment. How about…"

"How about not?" Kagami absolutely didn't feel like working anymore today.

"Yeah, I'm tired after today's events, and I don't think I'll be able to assemble any furniture."

"Not that we would be able to even in top form…" Being able to assemble the furniture wasn't a question of their metal of physical state after all.

"That's true… How about we take it easy for the rest of the day and start with a relaxing bath?"

"Yes, I like that better, Kona. Our parents are coming over tomorrow as well. We should make enough progress with them anyway." Their parents had agreed to help the couple with the big and complicated things in the apartment. They surely wouldn't mind doing a little extra.

"It's decided then!"

…..

Once Konata and Kagami had decided on how to spend the rest of the day, the two began some preparations for a relaxing evening and night. Konata got the bath ready while Kagami cleaned up the sofa while also getting some snacks ready. Luckily, there was nothing worth mentioning while she cleaned up. Afterward, once the water was ready, the two got into the tub together. Cuddling while being submerged in the hot water, the couples fatigue that had accumulated over the day, mainly thanks to Miyuki and Tsukasa, practically melted away in an instant.

30 minutes later, while still feeling hot and steamy, Konata and Kagami went to the living room and got comfortable on the sofa. Konata turned on the TV, and the two continued their usual cuddling until Kagami had something to say.

"Hmm…" She was staring at the TV while tilting her head.

"What's wrong?"

"Is it just me or is the TV really rather small for the living room? It's a good thing that it's actually for the bedroom."

"Oi!" Konata let go of Kagami and looked at her in disbelief while the words 'are you kidding me?!', were written all over her face. "You're just messing with me right now, aren't you?"

"Tehe~." That's exactly what she was doing. "Okay, you were right with getting a bigger one, Kona. Well, a 55" TV would've worked as well, but yeah, this one's way too small."

"As long as you understand, Kagamin~."

"Yeah, yeah, shut up, idiot~." She could only sigh after seeing Konata's smug face. "Come here now." Kagami grabbed her and placed Konata's head on her lap. "That's why you wanted to get the sofa, didn't you?"

"Ehehe~." Konata naturally didn't struggle and simply enjoyed the soft and warm feeling of Kagami's lap with a happy smile. Kagami began patting her head at some point and also started playing with her hair eventually.

"Are you planning to do anything with your hair for college, Kona?" She let a couple strands flow through her fingers while asking.

"Hmm? For an image change or what?"

"Yeah, getting a new look and stuff…"

"Are you subtly trying to tell me something here, Kagamin~?" It sounded like she didn't like Konata's hair and tried to talk her into a new look.

"No, not really." Kagami simply continued to play with Konata's hair. "I really like your hair after all."

"I see… Hmm, I haven't thought about it before. Any suggestions, Kagamin?"

"What about a ponytail?" The answer came way too quick.

"Are you really not trying to tell me anything?" Konata started doubting her.

"No, really… It's more like, I want to change something, but I don't want to be the only one…" Her real intention finally came out.

"Ah, so that's how it is… Wait, what!?" Konata got up from Kagami's lap and looked straight at her again. "You can't do that!"

"Ehh… Why not?" Kagami was surprised by her sudden reaction.

"You and twintails are one, Kagamin~! It's your trademark, you can't change that all of a sudden!"

"Not a single _tsundere_ mention, huh? You're actually serious about this aren't you?"

"Ah, I totally forgot about that…" Konata ruined it.

"One more reason to change my hairstyle."

"Come on, don't be like that, Kagamin~. Ah, how about you change the way you tie your twintails instead as a compromise?" Konata tried to negotiate.

"For example?" She seemed interested in the idea.

"Let's see… What about tying your hair near your shoulders together? I think it should look more mature this way, and that's what you're trying to accomplish in the first place, aren't you?"

"A-Ah, uhm, yes…" Kagami was embarrassed that Konata guessed her real intention so easily.

"Hehe~. So, what do you think?"

"Hmm, shoulders, is it?" Kagami grabbed her own hair and tried to imagine it. "Do we have some hairbands somewhere? I don't think my usual ribbons would work for that." It seemed like she was taking a liking to the idea.

"You're asking tough questions here, girl…" Konata looked around. "I usually have tons of them literally everywhere, even though I hardly use them, but right now and here…"

"Yeah, the curse of the hairbands, you find them all the time in the weirdest places, but it's nearly impossible to find even one when you need them…" Hairbands, and even more so hairclips, are a complete mystery to mankind.

"Ah, wait a moment…" Konata suddenly got up from the sofa and left the living room, only to come back not even a minute later. "There you go, Kagamin~." She handed her a couple hairbands. "I knew I saw a couple of them in the bag I brought from home."

"Thanks…" Kagami didn't ask how they got in the bag because she knew that it was impossible for Konata to answer that. "Let's see… like this…?" She tied her hair into twintails as always, but in a different fashion than usual. Instead of using her ribbons, Kagami used the hairbands to tie them together just above her shoulders.

"Yep, that's exactly what I meant!" Konata gave her a thump up.

"How do I look?"

"Awesome." No hesitation whatsoever.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Oh, and the new hairstyle looks good as well."

"What a smooth talker you are." She didn't seem to be angry in the slightest, though.

"Hehe. No, really, it looks good on you, Kagamin~. I'm amazed by my own genius from time to time."

"Yeah, from _time to time_ , with an emphasis on _rarely._ "

"Good counter~. How do you like it, Kagamin~?"

"I think it's not bad, Kona. Thanks for the idea, I'll try it a couple days as a test."

"Thank god the twintails aren't going to extinct." Konata really liked her twintails.

"You're such a dork. What if I had said I wanted to try wearing my hair open or as a ponytail instead? Kagami knew Konata's weaknesses after all.

"T-That's… uhm, no… That doesn't change anything at all! Twintails are love, twintails are life…" She needed a second before she was sure about her final answer.

"You sure are convincing, Kona."

"I sure am!"

The two continued to tease each other and played with their hairs for a while. Once the couple had enough of that, which took quite a while, Konata and Kagami decided to head over to their bedroom. They made themselves comfortable on the bed as usual, and Kagami powered on her laptop.

"So, what should we watch, Kona?"

"What a funny question to ask~. You mentioned some kind of videos earlier that I'm quite interested in." Konata was referring to the videos Kagami wanted to send Tsukasa.

"Well, I don't really mind, but bear in mind that the videos I recommended Tsukasa were obviously pretty tame, boring even…" There was no way she would show her little sister something _extreme_ after all. Not that it made the situation much better.

"Hmm…" Konata's interest took a sharp blow. "Wait a moment, what do you mean by _the videos you recommended_?"

"Ah, so you noticed…" Kagami didn't sound overly surprised. "There might be some other videos, some that are _slightly_ dirtier…"

"And with that, you have my undivided attention, Kagamin~. I'll go with your top ten list for starters." Her interest was at a maximum again.

"Top ten… that's a tough call…" Kagami had troubles deciding.

"Wow… Okay… How about the last one that caught your interest then?" Her reaction stopped Konata's brain for a second.

"That's a little easier… Let's see…" Kagami clicked on a bookmark and a slightly suspiciously looking website popped up. After entering a few keywords, a video started playing. The next 22 minutes and 19 seconds were passed without chatting because Konata's eyes were glued to the screen.

"Woah…" The video was over, and Konata couldn't find a better word. "Okay… That explains a lot…"

"W-What do you mean by that…?!"

"Remember the last time when you tried to… You got the idea from this video, didn't you, Kagamin?"

"A-Ah, uh, yes… Yes, I did…" Kagami began to blush because she actually felt embarrassed right now.

"Ehehe~. Okay, next one please~." Konata wasn't put off in the slightest. Rather, she got extremely interested in Kagami's tastes.

"O-Okay…" Reluctantly, Kagami opened the next video.

The couple watched quite a few more of them, and Konata was finally sure of something. She had the feeling before already, but now she had definite proof.

"My girlfriend is a pervert~." Kagami couldn't remember if she ever saw such a happy expression on Konata's face. "Your preferences sure are interesting, Kagamin~. I mean, I saw them live a lot already, but that's something else~." She couldn't stop smiling.

"Y-You think…? I'm sorry…" She was super embarrassed.

"Why are you apologizing? It's awesome, you know? I actually learned something new on top of that~."

"Is that so…?"

"Want to try it~?" Konata pointed at the screen of the laptop. "To be honest, after watching all those videos with you… _turned on_ doesn't even begin to describe it…"

"Haa…" Kagami had recovered and sounded relieved all of a sudden. "It's good to know that I'm not alone with this." It were her favorite videos the two watched, so of course, it had an effect on her as well.

The couple got rid of the laptop because it was in the way and the two had a lot of _fun_ recreating what they saw in the video before. Konata and Kagami may or may not have also tried various other things from the previous videos as well while there were at it. No, the two definitely did, all of them.

Just like that, another night ended up being way too short, and the couple was once more extremely tired when the sun raised too early on the next day.

….

Once the two had their much-needed shower and ate breakfast, this time they actually had something to eat in the fridge, Konata and Kagami reluctantly continued to set up their apartment.

"Although I really don't want to, should we do our best a little longer, Kagamin~?"

"We should… At least until our parents show up for help." She agreed, but she also knew that nothing remotely productive is going to happen until their parents arrive. "What should we do next then? Your otaku room?"

"That would be the best because we haven't done anything at all in there yet, Kagamin~…"

"Okay~…" After having agreed on a plan, the two went to the otaku room, and the couple began working there. Mainly because of last night, Kagami was in an excellent mood, but one thing was for sure, she wasn't going to be that cheerful for long.

They gave their best for a few hours, but the best the two could do was creating a huge mess. Konata and Kagami had learned absolutely nothing from Miyuki and Tsukasa. Feeling rather pathetic again, the two had a little crisis because nothing was working. The room wasn't the only thing that looked messy, the couple looked worn out as well because of the tedious work they at least tried to do.

While both continued to despair in the otaku room, the doorbell of the apartment rang, and the couple was about to be released from their misery. Kagami went and opened the door where their parents, Miki, Tadao, and Sojiro were waiting, but something was odd because all of them were looking somewhat confused when they saw Kagami.

"E-Ehm…" Tadao's face was twitching for some reason.

"Ufufu~." Miki, on the other hand, was enjoying herself.

"I wonder if we came at the wrong time~." So was Sojiro. The reason for their reaction was simple. Kagami's look was a complete mess. Her hair was unkempt, her way too big shirt was about to slide off her shoulder, and her clothes looked overall disheveled.

"Hmm…? A-Ah, no…" Kagami realized what was going on and began blushing. "Y-You got it wrong!" Trying her best to clear up the misunderstanding, she quickly guided them to the otaku room where Konata was.

"Ah, that's how it is…" The three saw what was going on and had an understanding look on their faces. Konata was lying on the floor, and she looked the same, if not worse than Kagami. Her arms and legs sprawled out, her hair was absolutely everywhere, and her clothes had seen better days as well while she was surrounded by parts of furniture and packaging material.

"Oh, dad, Miki, Tadao… Welcome…" She weakly waved her hand as she saw them. Konata already had no energy left.

"Okay, how about a break?" Miki saw their misery and suggested a change of pace. "How about you give us a tour of the apartment?"

"That's a good idea." Tadao agreed with her. "It's the first time for us being here after all." The two had never seen the apartment before because Sojiro and Konata had taken care of most things.

"A break sounds perfect~." Konata came back to life after hearing those words. She got up, and the couple showed their parents around in the apartment.

They went to every room while Konata and Kagami also explained what was still missing. Sojiro was impressed by the renovations, and Kagami's parents quickly took a liking to the apartment as well. It was even nicer than they had imagined from all the tales Kagami told them beforehand. Once they had seen everything, the couple and their parents stopped in the kitchen.

"My, your kitchen looks lovely." Just like Tsukasa the other day, Miki fell in love with it as well. "Dear, don't you think the color would be perfect for our house as well?"

"A-Ah, uh, well… I really think our kitchen we have right now is the most fitting…" Tadao and his wallet had a bad feeling.

"You think so?"

"Y-Yes… By the way…" He needed to change the subject fast. "You already showed us what is left, but with what should we start?"

"That's a valid question. I'm actually rather impressed the two of you got so much done already." Sojiro noticed that Tadao was facing a crisis right now and helped him out.

"Ah… Ahaha…" The couple could only let out a dry laugh.

"It's all thanks to Miyuki and Tsukasa, though… Konata and I are utterly incompetent…"

"…" After seeing the situation the couple was in when they arrived, the parents couldn't say anything.

"It's okay, we accepted it already."

"Anyway… Sojiro-san, how about we start with setting up the washing machine?"

"Yes, let's do that." After having decided on a task, the fathers made their way to the bathroom.

"Okay, while the men are doing the heavy and complicated things, how about we take care of the rest?" Miki wanted to get going as well.

"Sure, we're not going to be much help, though." Konata wasn't overly optimistic.

"We can just take our time, you two." She tried to motivate them.

"Okay…" It wasn't working on Kagami. Even so, she got ready to work again and tied up her hair because it would get in the way otherwise. Because she had taken a liking to Konata's suggestion, she tied her hair into the new twintails just above her shoulder again.

"Oh, did you change your hairstyle, Kagami?"

"Yeah, it was Konata's idea. How does it look?" She wanted to know how her mother thinks about the change.

"Somehow, it changes your image quite a bit, but it suits you."

"Really? That's great~." That's what Kagami was hoping for with a new hairstyle.

"Hehe~," For some reason, Konata seemed to be even happier.

The girls went to the living room and began assembling the stools for the hatch that were still left. Konata and Kagami were wondering why the cartons of them were so big, but once the stools were unwrapped, a happy revelation hit them. They were almost entirely assembled already, and only a few finishing touches were left. Thanks to that, they made good progress, and Konata and Kagami finally had some sort of accomplished feeling again.

The fathers, too, were done with the washing machine already and went to Konata's otaku room to assemble the furniture the despaired on when they had arrived earlier. Because of that, Miki and the girls went to the bathroom now to set up the shelf for the towels and other bathroom related things. Sadly, the shelf wasn't preassembled in the slightest and Miki had to take charge. Because the two were way too slow and incompetent, Miki ended up assembling the shelf entirely on her own while the couple only helped with a few minor things.

Once the bathroom was taken care of, the three went to the hallway to get the shoe rack and hallstand ready. Miki let the couple work on the shoe rack while she was in charge of the hallstand because it looked way too complicated for the two. Almost half an hour passed and after Miki helped the girls because she was already long done with the hallstand, things in the hallway were finally finished up as well.

The three girls joined up with Tadao and Sojiro in the couple's bedroom because the otaku room, too, was fully finished already, and the two had begun working on their wardrobe. Tadao started crying for a moment as he saw Kagami's new hairstyle because she had already started to change even before she actually moved here, but he calmed down once Miki made him shut up. She also helped the men as good as she could with the wardrobe, but Konata and Kagami were only allowed to watch from the sidelines.

By the time the wardrobe was assembled, the fathers had begun mounting the TV on the wall next to the door, and in front of the bedroom, Miki also couldn't help them anymore. The girls decided to clean up instead because there were still boxes and packaging material all over the rooms of the apartment.

About an hour later, Tadao and Sojiro had not only finished mounting the TV on the wall, but also installed the bigger one in the living room. The girls had finished the cleaning up of the apartment as well, and everyone got together in the living room and sat down on the sofa.

"That surely is an impressive TV you got there…"

"Absolutely…" Sojiro and Tadao were just slightly jealous of the big TV the couple had bought.

"Don't get any funny thought now, honey." Miki shot Tadao down before he could even ask and also completely ignored the irony of how she tried to get a new kitchen the same way just a few hours ago.

"I have to say, girls, it's a really nice apartment, and the furniture looks good as well. You did an outstanding job here."

"Just not with the assembling, though…" Miki had to take a jab at them as well after working with the two for a couple hours.

"We know…"

"But, yes, it's a really nice home you've made yourselves here." Miki did agree with Tadao's evaluation.

"Thanks. We like our new home as well."

"H-Home…" The fathers didn't take this word very well. Their eyes actually looked a bit puffy, and they seemed like they were about to cry because reality hit them again where their daughters were about to leave the house. Luckily, Miki was able to stop them before it became too ugly.

"O-Okay, let's not go there…" Actually, Miki seemed sad as well, but talking about it would only make things worse now.

"Don't worry, it's not like we're never going to visit, you know?"

"Yeah, we'll be coming back pretty often." The couple tried to calm down their parents.

"I-It's okay…" Sojiro got only sadder for some reason.

"A-Anyway…" So was Tadao and because of that, he decided to change the subject. "Now that you two are about to m-move here and l-live alone together, we should talk about some rules you two have to abide again."

"Sure~." Konata and Kagami weren't going to protest.

"Okay, let's start then…" Tadao began explaining the rules the two have to follow in order to be allowed to live here in Yokohama. Things, like taking care of each other, or doing their best in college, and not getting involved with suspicious people, among some other stuff, was talked about.

"Well, it's more or less everything covered by having common sense anyway, isn't it?"

"Yes, Kona, we would've followed these rules even without being told. Don't worry dad, we agree with everything of it."

"Thank you very much, you two. I'm relieved that you're such levelheaded girls."

"Y-Yeah…" Kagami wasn't sure how she should react to the impression her father had on Konata and her. It's not a lie that they're levelheaded on the outside to some degree, but when put together, Kagami and Konata are just a good for nothing idiot couple.

The two and their parents talked for a while longer, mainly about the apartment and related things, but Miki, Tadao, and Sojiro had to head back home soon enough because it was getting late and they didn't want to spend the night here.

Konata and Kagami, on the other hand, happily stayed another night in their new home.

"We're done, huh~?"

"Yes, our apartment's finally finished~." The couple looked around in the rooms, and every piece of furniture was assembled and in its designated place. "Ah, the deco is still left, the stuff Tsukasa and I bought yesterday, but that can wait a little longer."

"Haa~…" Konata let out a satisfied sigh.

"Mh-hmm~." Kagami did the same.

Once the two stopped grinning like complete idiots, which took way longer than they would ever admit, the couple went to the kitchen and prepared dinner. After having eaten something, Konata and Kagami got comfortable on the sofa and watched a movie on their new TV. When it had gotten late enough, both headed over to their bedroom, where the two maybe enjoyed another one or two videos of Kagami's _special_ collection and had some more fun during the night.

Sadly, the two had to head back during the afternoon of the next day as well. Their graduation from high school was right around the corner, and they had to visit the school for a couple days again, but Konata and Kagami already couldn't wait to come back and were already missing their apartment the moment they had left.

Luckily, it was only a week at best before the two could come back.

* * *

…

* * *

With this, 50 chapters are done~. I honestly hadn't thought I would get this far, and the end is still not in sight.

Who would've thought that Kagami is such a pervert. The answer is easy; everyone.

Miyuki and Tsukasa sure got them good with such an unexpected question. An embarrassed and overwhelmed Konata is also nice. Their help was pretty… unique, to say the least. One could wonder if their suggestion might bite their backs in the future.

By the way, Kagami's new hairstyle is canon in the manga. Her old twintails aren't fully gone, but she wears them tied together at shoulder length more often in the manga after the girl entered college. It's a nice thought that Konata suggested it to her in the manga (Not true, though... Probably, at least).

We also got a little more of Mio and Naomi, and more details on her looks. I wonder if someone I actually imagined Naomi with looks like that from the last time. If you have problems picturing her, imagine Karen from Kiniro Mosaic with blue eyes and wavy hair instead. Being blonde usually wouldn't mean much in the Lucky Star universe with hair colors like blue and pink, but please be so nice and ignore this little detail, okay?

I've also updated my profile with more info on the two and added an improved floorplan with furniture here and on my profile.

www,imgur,com/26un4Lh (Exchange the , with .) It's not 100% accurate because the tool didn't have the exact furniture and colors, but that's more or less the idea I had in mind.

Staying with the two, compared to the small teaser at the end, the next chapter will not be about their graduation, but about Mio and Naomi instead. I want to flesh them out a little more before introducing them to the main cast.

Unfortunately, the next chapter might take a while. My laptop died last week, and I had to lend one to even get this chapter done in a rush. I probably won't get a new one before the end of the month. I'm also thinking about getting one of those Surface Book 2 from Microsoft because I love the 2 in 1 idea and I'll probably be busy with sketching things on it for a while. Maybe I'll even get and illustration for this fic done, but I'll guarantee nothing. I used a graphic tablet for a while in the past, but not seeing what you draw never worked for me…


	51. Side Story 2: A promise and a trip

Author here~. Okay, the first part here is just a copy/paste from a scene of the last chapter, and you can skip it if you remember it. I added that part here because this chapter is a direct continuation of the scene.

It's the part after Konata and Miyuki had left the anime/manga store after buying multiple 'reference materials' to help Miyuki with Tsukasa.

Well then, this is the next Mio and Naomi chapter.

…

* * *

While Miyuki and Konata were on their way, a particular foreign looking girl was still outside the anime store, and it seemed like she was waiting for someone. A few minutes passed, and another girl walked around the corner. The cosplay girl being the textbook example of a foreign beauty, the new girl was the traditional, albeit tall-grown, Japanese counterpart with her height about 170cm (5'2"). Silky, jet-black hair that reached all the way down to her hips, super long legs, and, even though she was wearing a coat, one could easily see that the girl had a slim, but very feminine looking figure. Her face was also a perfect fit for her first impression. She had a small and cute face with dark gray, almost black eyes. Absolutely no one would bat an eye if the girl would claim that she's working as a model for a magazine. They would only ask for a sign.

"Ah, Mio-chan, there you are!" The foreign girl saw her and leaped into her arms out of nowhere once she was close enough.

"Hey there, _Naomi._ " She somehow didn't seem fazed at all by her action and merely hugged her back.

"Ehehe~." The shy and foreign girl suddenly didn't seem so foreign anymore, or shy.

"Did something happen? You seem clingier than normal."

"Do I?"

"Uh… So, did something happen?" Mio couldn't give an honest answer.

"I-It was awful, you know!?" Naomi let go of her and started complaining.

"No, I don't, that's why I'm asking."

"I was looking for cosplay while thinking about nothing bad when suddenly another girl showed up and started talking with me!" It somehow was a huge deal for Naomi.

"Yeah, something like that, people talking to you, _does_ happen from time to time… Multiple times a day that is…"

"Maybe for you, but it's a huge deal for me!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know that you're bad with people, but isn't that a bit too much…?"

"Ehm, no…?" Naomi only looked at her with cold eyes. "You know why I'm like that, don't you…?"

"Yes… Just what should I do with you…" Sighing, Mio gave up on the topic and began rubbing Naomi's head because she felt like doing so.

"Ehehe~, that's a good start~." She enjoyed it being spoilt by Mio.

"So, thanks to that girl, you were unable to buy some cosplay, huh?"

"Yes! It's awful!"

"Is it? I beg to differ… Maybe I should befriend her if she keeps you from buying cosplay."

"No… No, I don't like that idea at all, Mio-chaaan~."

"Then stop buying cosplay _for me_ all the time and making _me_ wear it." Her real intention leaked out.

"Nope~." Naomi playfully twirled around on the spot and then began to run away because she wasn't intending on stopping her behavior.

"You…" Not seeming angry at all, Mio ran after her with a smile on her face.

* * *

….

While Mio was playfully chasing after the fleeing Naomi, the two eventually arrived at the sweets store of Mio's grandmother and entered it.

"Welcome back~." Said sweets store owner noticed them and cheerfully greeted the two.

"I'm home~." Compared to how she acted in the anime store, Naomi really was a completely different person now.

"I didn't know you live here…" Mio retorted with a smile.

"Ehehe~. It's my second home for a long time already, Mio-chan~. It's feels homey here with you and grandma… Not to mention all those delicious sweets!" The last one didn't sound so noble.

"W-What should I do?!" The grandma left the counter and hugged Naomi. "Mio-chan, Naomi-chan is just too cute, you know?!"

"Yes, I'm _vaguely_ aware of it…" Mio wasn't sure how to answer. "Actually, you have no idea just how cute she can get. For example, last week when we…"

"M-Mio-chan!" Naomi suddenly stopped her from continuing with a bright red face.

"Hehe, look~, she's the cutest."

"Ah, the perks of being childhood friends who grew up together." Her grandma gave her a knowing look. "I'm sure you know a lot of sides of Naomi-chan that I don't. Oh, and being her _girlfriend_ probably has something to do with it as well." An all too knowing look.

"Well, yeah, that might be the biggest reason for how I know all those cute sides of Naomi~."

"M-Mio-chan!" She became even more embarrassed.

"Let me at least have this, Naomi~. You're always dragging me all over the place and making me wear the weirdest things when I have to cosplay for you, I'm definitely not giving up on the rare chances where I can have a comeback." From the sound of it, Naomi is giving her a hard time on multiple occasions as well. But, even so, Mio didn't sound to be angry or upset at all.

"Uhhh… Fine…" Naomi had no choice but to give up here. "Speaking of which, grandma, I ordered something online and let it get delivered to this place. Has it arrived already?"

"Ah, now that you mention it, yes, a package actually arrived a short while ago." She went behind the counter again and handed over the package over to Naomi.

"Yay! The day is saved!" Something very important seemed to be inside.

"N-Naomi… I don't think I actually want to know, but…" Mio had a bad feeling about it."

"Ehehe~."

"Oh-oh…" The feeling just got worse. "What have you ordered again? Wait, actually, no, you don't have to tell me… After the earlier conversation, it's probably… no, most certainly…"

"Yes, it's new cosplay for you~. I wasn't able to buy anything earlier, so I ordered some instead."

"Oh, so they have 15-minute delivery now?" Mio didn't believe her for obvious reasons. There was just no way that she only ordered it after leaving the anime store earlier.

"Tehe~, I got caught~. I actually bought it on a whim yesterday, but after the disaster in the store earlier, it's more than just welcome."

"And as usual, I have no say in it, right?"

"None~."

"Why did I even ask…" Mio let out a sigh while giving up on it.

"Ehm…" Her grandma, who was silently listening until now, didn't understand much, but still noticed that something happened. "Did something happen when you were shopping, Naomi-chan?"

"Ah, listen to this, grandma…" She began explaining what happened in the anime store when she was shopping for cosplay; how the tiny blue-haired girl suddenly started talking to her, and how it made her unable to buy something because it was too much for her to handle.

"I see…" Because she knew about Naomi's extreme shyness towards strangers, she said nothing about the totally normal situation itself, but something else had caught her interest. "Hmm… a blue-haired, tiny girl, you say…"

"Now that I heard the description, I somehow feel like I heard about the girl somewhere already…" Mio also seemed to remember something.

"It somehow sounds like… Konata-chan!" The grandma finally made the connection. "Mio-chan, it's the girl that visited the store together with her friend on Christmas and back in February for their entrance tests I told you about."

"Oh, you're right, that indeed sounds like her." Mio also connected the dots.

"I actually think that I heard someone calling her 'Konata-san' when I left the store… Wait a moment, you two know her?!" Naomi was shocked by the sudden revelation.

"Heh~, that's great." Mio's grandma ignored her shock completely. "If they're here again, it seems like Konata-chan and Kagami-chan have safely passed their entrance tests."

"Yes, that's good to hear." Mio was also happy for them.

"Ehm… What is going on, you two?" Naomi, on the other hand, couldn't follow their conversation and felt left out.

"Ah, that's right, Naomi-chan doesn't know about them." The grandma started explaining how Konata and Kagami visited the store twice in the past. She also told Naomi how the two wanted to attend the college here together and also plan to live together.

"Ahh… so that's how it is…" Naomi wasn't what to do with this new information.

"In regard to that, I have bad news for you, Naomi."

"H-Huh?! What do you mean, Mio-chan?"

"In front of the store, I joked about wanting to meet the girl because she kept you from buying cosplay, right?"

"Y-Yes… I also wasn't the biggest fan of that joke…"

"I'm sorry, but it seems like you're definitely going to see the girl again after all, because I _do_ want to meet her now."

"W-Why?! I really _don't_ want to, Mio-chan!"

"Well, they're two girls who seem super close to the point where they go to the same college in a different city together and also decided to live together, _and_ actually doing it. Doesn't that sound super envio-… ehm, interesting? I, for one, want to get to know them." Mio's real reason for her interest almost leaked out.

"B-But…" Naomi still wasn't a fan of the idea.

"Mio-chan, from how you worded it, do you think the two are a couple as well?" Her grandma seemed to have guessed one of the reasons why Mio's interested in them.

"That's what I want to find out. I want to get to know them better first to make a guess because I don't have enough info now."

"I see, that's true."

"I-Is that really necessary…?" Naomi didn't like how the conversation was progressing.

"Yes~. Also, instead of being afraid, you should use the chance to befriend them as well."

"E-Eh…? W-Why should I do that?! Or rather… how? You totally know that that's absolutely impossible, Mio-chan!"

"No, I think it's about time to get over your anxiety towards strangers."

"H-Huh…?" Naomi wasn't expecting a sudden attack like that.

"I think this Konata would be perfect for this."

"W-Why…?"

"According to grandma, she, and the other one as well are really nice girls, and it seems like you and she have similar interests, right? I mean, you two met each other in the cosplay section of an anime store after all."

"B-But…" Her fight wasn't over.

"Mio-chan's right, Naomi-chan." The grandma wanted to push her in the right direction as well. "The two, Konata-chan and Kagami-chan, are really sweet and good girls!"

"B-But… But..." Naomi was desperately thinking of a way out of it, but she was getting cornered more and more. "I-Isn't it fine the way it's now? Mio-chan is all I need if you ask me. Oh, and grandma, of course!"

"Be honest, Naomi, you actually would love to talk to someone about anime and cosplay to your heart's content, wouldn't you?"

"T-That's…" Her eyes began to sway.

"Sure, I don't exactly dislike them, but I'm not too invested in them either. Except maybe the cosplay, but that's your fault… Anyway, I'm sure you would enjoy talking about those things with a kindred spirit, right?"

"W-Well…" Naomi didn't want to admit it, but Mio had a point.

"Or did that made that first encounter made you dislike that Konata that much already?"

"N-No, that's not it!" She violently shook her head all of a sudden. "That's not true… I was actually a bit happy that she tried to talk to me without reservation and how she seemed to have an interest in cosplay as well, but…" Naomi had a smile on her lips for a second, but it immediately vanished again afterward. "I-It's not like I can trust her out of the blue… and there were already so many bad experiences because of that.

"The _actual_ bad ones were ages ago, though, Naomi…"

"That doesn't matter at all! For me, it's still as fresh as yesterday!"

"Haa… Well, it's not like I can't understand you after what happened in the past, but… I somehow have a good feeling about this Konata, and I never lied to you, did I?"

"Y-Yes, but… there's also this other girl, right? Kagami-san, was it? That's already two new people then… I'm not so sure…" Naomi seemed to be really afraid.

"Oh, how about this then, Naomi~." Mio's face lit up as she seemed to have an idea.

"Oh-oh… What is it, Mio-chan…?"

"I have a proposal for you~. If you agree to meet those two, I'll spend an entire day of shopping for cosplay for you. I won't say no to anything, and I'll keep my complaining to a minimum. I'll, of course, wear everything afterward as well." Because convincing her with words alone was somewhat tricky, and was becoming bothersome as well, Mio simply decided to bribe her into it.

"W-Whit did you say?!" She took the bait without hesitating. "Wait a moment, does this even include _that_?" Her eyes began to sparkle.

" _T-That_?! Uhm…" Mio audibly swallowed. "That's… Well, how about I do that for your birthday instead?"

"But that's three months away…"

"Don't be like that, Naomi~. Oh, how about I include that _other_ thing from last week instead? That thing I refused to wear."

"Last week… Last week, huh? Ah! Y-You'll wear that for me, Mio-chan?!" Once she had remembered, Naomi's excitement went through the roof. "O-Okay, I'll do it…" Because the temptation was too big, she finally gave in.

"R-Really?!" Her stakes were big, but even with that, Mio wasn't sure whether it was enough until the end.

"Y-Yes… I can't promise that we'll become friends, but I'll do my best with meeting those two girls…"

"That's awesome! I'm so happy!" Because she was so proud of her progress, no matter how small it was, Mio ended up tightly embracing Naomi.

"Ehehe~." Thanks to the hug, Naomi instantly loosened up and began to relax.

"That's great~." Mio's grandma, who was still only silently watching over them, was also happy that Naomi finally made a step forward. She knew that it took Naomi a lot of courage to do it.

"A-Anyway…" Naomi desperately wanted to change the topic now that she had lost. "Mio-chan, Mio-chan!"

"Yes, I'm Mio."

"How about we go upstairs and check the contents of the package together?"

"Hmm…? Ah, the cosplay you ordered?" Mio had almost forgotten about the package already.

"Yes~."

"Haa, fine… I think you deserve a little early reward after I pushed you into meeting those girls."

"Yay~, let's go!" Naomi energetically grabbed Mio's hand, and the two quickly disappeared upstairs for the rest of the evening.

"Somehow, I have the feeling that it's going to be even livelier here in the future…" The grandma kept smiling to herself behind the counter of her sweets store for a while.

…

A little over a week passed, and Naomi had some big plans for the weekend.

"Mio-chan~!"

"Yes, yes, I'm coming…"

"Hurry!" On the contrary to Mio, Naomi was incredibly excited and in high-tension mode.

"Just calm down a bit…" The two just came downstairs to the sweets store, and both were carrying a medium sized bag each and seemed to be ready to leave for somewhere.

"Calming down is for the weak!"

"Nonono, that just doesn't make any sense, Naomi…" Mio tried to stay serious.

"I'm sure it does."

"Of course… Anyway, where are we even going? You suddenly barged into my room, stuffed some of my clothes in a bag, and dragged me downstairs while I was at an interesting part in my book I was reading…" With the indifference in her voice, she didn't seem to be overly surprised by her actions, though. "I mean, it's nothing new… You trying to kidnap me out of nowhere and dragging me into of your trips, that is, but knowing the destination would be really appreciated for a change."

"Nope~." Naomi was having fun.

"Ahh, the same as usual, huh…?" Mio gave up with a small sigh. "Another one of Naomi's infamous surprise weekend trip, it is…"

"H-Hey, what's that about _infamous_?!"

"Nevermind~. Ah, wait a moment, it's not going to be such a pointlessly expensive trip like last time again, right?"

"No, don't worry~. The sermon you gave me there about spending too much money will last another month or so."

"That's good to hear… Oi, what was that just now?!" Mio was relieved for a second, but then realized what Naomi said and how she wasn't reflecting in the slightest.

"Don't mind~. But, be relieved, you won't even need your passport this time, Mio-chan~."

"Well, that's something, at least." She didn't feel overly relieved, but she was happy enough that the two were going to stay in the country this time.

"Believe it or not, we're even just going to take the train."

"H-Huh?!" Mio was quite shocked. "What's up with this reasonable way of traveling that's so totally unlike you?!"

"Well… Daddy is hosting some kind of even this weekend, and because of that, all of our cars and drivers are booked for the guests…"

"I-I see…" There was absolutely nothing she was able to retort here. Hearing Naomi say it like it was the most natural thing to have multiple cars and drivers, simply crushed her will to make a witty comeback.

"Can we go already~?" Completely ignoring her inner turmoil, Naomi was getting impatient again.

"Sure…" She didn't care anymore.

"Yay~! Well then, see you in a few days, grandma." Naomi shortly waved at her behind the counter as she pushed Mio out of the store, who had stopped resisting altogether.

"Have fun~." Mio's grandmother seemed to be used to this kind of scene already and just saw them off with a smile.

….

About a two-hour long train ride later, in the first class, of course, the two finally arrived at their destination. It was a place in the middle of nowhere Mio never visited, nor even heard before.

"Ehm, Naomi… What exactly are we doing here…?" She looked around, but absolutely nothing of interest entered her field of view. "No, before that, where are we?"

"Hmm… There are some nice hot springs around here~."

"That doesn't sound very convincing. In the first place, if you wanted to visit some nice hot springs, we simply could've gone to Hakone… You know, that nice hot spring town basically right next to Yokohama."

"W-Well… I thought it would be a nice change of pace to visit a different place every now and then…"

"Ah, so that's how it is, huh? So, what's the real reason?" Naturally, it was obvious for Mio that she was using the hot spring trip just as a façade to hide her ulterior motive.

"Ahaha… Actually, according to the internet, here's one of the biggest cosplay store in all of Japan." Her real intention for the trip quickly came leaked out.

"I see. Well then, how about we go to the hotel first, though? I'm kind of hungry because a certain someone came to kidnap right before I was about to get something to eat. Also, now that you mentioned hot springs, I really want to take a bath~."

"E-Eh…?" Naomi wasn't expecting this kind of answer. "You aren't angry, Mio-chan?"

"Should I? I can get angry if you want… I never knew you were into that kind of thing, though. Together for our entire life already and I still learn new things about you~."

"H-Hey, that's not what I meant, okay?!"

"Sure~."

"M-Mio-chan!"

"Hehe. Why would I get angry, though? I did promise you to go shopping for cosplay together, didn't I? I'm not really surprised that you went all out for that."

"Yay! Thank you!" Because she was so happy, Naomi jumped at Mio and tightly hugged her.

"Ehehe~." Mio was also happy, mainly about the hug, though. Once they separated again, she grabbed Naomi's hand, and the two walked to the hotel together.

…

The couple arrived at the hotel, and after checking in, they directly went to their room.

"Hoh~, even for a hotel in the middle of nowhere, the rooms aren't that bad." Naomi looked around with interest and seemed relatively pleased with their room. Big wasn't even to begin to describe it, and the furnishings looked modern and very high quality.

"Naomi~." Mio's voice sounded cold.

"Y-Yes?!"

"Even if it's in the middle of nowhere, yes… It's still a frigging 5-Star hotel where you booked a whole suite! What was that about pointlessly expensive trips we talked about before?"

"Hmm…?" Naomi just innocently tilted her head.

"…" Mio looked at her and when she saw her expression that said _'That was expensive?'_ , Mio questioned her own common sense that crumbled a little more. Her and Naomi's value of money didn't seem to match up.

"Is there something wrong, Mio-chan?"

"Nothing a conversation with your father shouldn't fix… probably. Then again, it's not the first time I tried, though…"

"You want to talk with daddy? Why?"

"Don't worry about it. Anyway…" Mio ended the topic. "Now that we're here already, we might as well enjoy it."

"Yay~."

"So, what do you want first? Something to eat, a bath, or…"

"Of course, I want Mio-chan!" Naomi answered without a second of hesitation.

"Ah~, that was my own fault." Mio couldn't blame her for giving such an answer.

"Tehe~." She struck out her tongue. "So, can I?"

"Hmmn…" Mio actually needed to think about it. "Can we save that for last? I'm super hungry by now, and a bath before it… Well, that's pretty self-explanatory, isn't it?"

"Aww, okay. Well, let's quickly order some room service then. There's no time to waste!" Although it wasn't Naomi's favorite order to spend the evening, she was still excited.

After the girls ordered something from the room service and had a delicious dinner together, the two directly went to the huge bath of their suite.

"Oho~, I can work with that." Mio's eyes fell on the massive tub in the bathroom and a smile formed on her lips.

"You sure love your baths, don't you, Mio-chan?"

"Naturally… Oh~." She turned around and that Naomi had already begun undressing behind her. "I can work with that as well~." Her smile began to change its meaning.

"Pervert." Naomi knew perfectly well what that smile meant. It didn't mean she stopped undressing, though.

"Thanks." It was a compliment for her.

"Same as usual, huh? Well, not that I'm going to complain~." This time, it was Naomi who gave up with a sigh, but with a smile.

"Ah, let me help you with that~." Mio approached Naomi, who was already down to her underwear, as she was about to remove her bra.

"How about you start undressing as well instead?" Naomi stopped Mio's hands right in front of her bra. "It's not fair only giving out service, but not getting any in return…" Naomi looked up and down on the still fully dressed Mio.

"Sorry… I was too preoccupied with _other_ things that I totally forgot…" While saying so, Mio was intently staring at the thing she was preoccupied with, Naomi. Her beautiful eyes, the golden hair, and her petite, yet well-developed body had totally entranced her. Once she was able to avert her eyes, Mio finally began undressing as well, much to the delight of Naomi, who was the one watching now instead.

"Mhmn, not bad at all~." She was happy with the view in front of her. While Mio was undressing, she paid attention to every move of her. The perfect face, her black hair, that was darker than the night itself, and her body which easily surpassed that of every model out there. Naomi didn't miss a single thing about her, now naked, body and couldn't help, but gulp at the sight.

"You're drooling again, Naomi." Mio obviously didn't fail to notice her lecherous gaze. She wasn't the only pervert in this relationship.

"A-Ah! Sorry about that…" She quickly wiped her lips with her arm. She didn't even notice that Mio was just messing with her. "You're just so beautiful that it happened unconsciously."

"Woah, when have you reached this level of smooth-talking?"

"I'm serious! You took the image of a traditional Japanese beauty and brought it to perfection."

"And she keeps going~." Mio was having fun teasing her. "Ahaha, no, I know you're actually serious with what you're saying, Naomi. Then again, what should I say then? You're so cute that I have to restrain myself 24/7. Your foreign looks are almost too much for me to bear. It should be illegal to be this beautiful."

"S-Stop it…" Naomi was embarrassed but didn't seem unhappy about it. Everyone would be happy when being complimented like that. Her smile instantly vanished again, though. "Exactly those foreign looks gave me nothing but trouble… I prefer your traditional look much more…"

"I find myself rather boring, though." Mio was unable to agree with Naomi's evaluation. "Anyway, you're beautiful, and that's all there is to say."

"But you're more beautiful."

"No, you."

"No!"

"Yes!"

"You're way more beautiful!" This stupid display of affection continued for a while before they were able to calm down. It was a good thing that the two were alone right now because a third party would've had a lot of trouble with enduring their overly sweet flirting.

Once they ended their conversation and finished the competition with a draw, Mio and Naomi finally started washing each other after having gotten rid of their clothes before entering the tub together. As a matter of course, both of them helped washing each other's back, and _various_ other areas.

….

"Haa~, this is the best~." Mio comfortably stretched herself out in the tub while she was looking like she was in pure bliss.

"Mmh~." Naomi had a similar expression on her face as she made herself comfortable between Mio's legs while resting on her chest. "Yes, this is really comfortable~."

"What exactly is…?" She was questioning the meaning of her words because Naomi was doing her best with burying the back of her head in Mio's breasts.

"Yes~." She dodged the question.

"Well, whatever's fine~." Mio wrapped her arms around Naomi's body and pulled her even closer.

"Hmm~." She enjoyed the gesture very much. "It's still as weird as ever… You liking baths that much, Mio-chan."

"Ehh? I'm Japanese, you know? It's only natural that I love baths."

"Except the little fact that you're not acting like a Japanese person in the slightest. You only got the look going for you. You hate Japanese sweets, and even when it comes to normal food, you prefer western dishes much more. The last time you wore a kimono, not even was that ages ago, it also didn't take five minutes before you started stripping again because it was too stifling, and you questioned yourself how anyone could wear something like that on her own will. You…" Naomi could continue for a while because there were so many examples, but she was stopped.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it…" Mio didn't need to hear any more. "It's funny how you're the complete opposite, though. You look like you took the last plane from Europe, but you're actually the textbook example of a Japanese inside because you love all that stuff."

"Yes, I wonder what went wrong there…"

"It sure is a mystery." Mio also didn't understand why both, their looks, and personalities didn't match up in the slightest.

"Maybe we accidentally swapped bodies when we were little…" Naomi actually looked serious. "If so, please give it back, Mio-chan. No, Naomi-chan~!"

"You sure are having fun, huh?"

"Hehe. Still, it doesn't sound that unlikely, does it?"

"Ehm…" Mio didn't know where to start. "So, which anime influenced you this time?"

"Actually, it was a manga for a change this time."

"Close enough."

"Ah, let me try something." Naomi turned around in the tub, gave Mio a quick kiss on the lips, and waited a few seconds while looking around. "Aww, it didn't work…"

"And what didn't work…?" While not minding the surprise kiss, if anything, she looked a little disappointed that it was just a short kiss, Mio tilted her head in confusedness.

"In the manga, the girls could swap back and forth every time they kissed each other…"

"Ah, I see… Naomi?"

"Yes?"

"I'm not entirely sure anymore, but wasn't our first kiss like about 6 years ago?"

"Could be… I think it was at the start of middle school…? Maybe it was even over six years then…" Naomi also couldn't remember the exact date well."

"Not to mention that I can imagine that we kissed each other when we were really young while we were playing as well."

"That's not even unlikely. So, your point is, Mio-chan?"

"Don't you think we would've noticed by now that we're able to swap bodies while kissing?"

"A-Ah…" Naomi had forgotten about that. "I-I just wanted to make sure, you know…?"

"Is that so~? Then, do you really think such a short kiss was enough to make sure?"

"Hmm…" She pretended to think about it, but Naomi knew what Mio really wanted. Having taken a liking to the idea, she closed her eyes and pressed her lips against Mio's again. This time, the kiss lasted way longer, and many more followed after. Each of them was more intense and exciting than the previous one.

The two continued to have fun in various ways for a good while longer in the tub, but once they began to feel lightheaded from the hot water, Mio and Naomi finally left the bathroom again.

"Ahh~, I feel so refreshed." Mio was practically glowing after she finished bathing. Whether it really was because of the bath or something else, was another question.

"S-Sure… Well, it was nice." She also didn't specify it.

"Ehehe~. Well then, let's head to bed." Mio wasn't done yet for today.

"Someone is in a good mood, huh?" Naomi knew that wasn't talking about sleeping just now.

"Very."

"I can't wait for tomorrow's cosplay shopping. I'm sure I'll be able to top your mood then."

"A-Ah…" Precisely because she was in such a good mood, Mio had already forgotten about that.

"You aren't going to change your mind now, do you?"

"Of course not. A promise is a promise. But, let's save that for tomorrow and have some… _traditional_ fun for the rest of the day."

"Traditional fun, is it? I haven't heard that one before, but sure, I'm all in."

Freshly out of the bath, the two directly went to the bedroom of their hotel suite and threw themselves on the huge bed.

…..

After a _long_ night, and after just having finished breakfast, Mio and Naomi left the hotel to walk a bit around in the area to explore the city.

"I wonder how the cosplay store is~." Naomi's exploring seemed to be rather single-minded.

"You were the one who found the store. I'm sure you looked up the way to it, right?"

"O-Of course I did." She began to sweat.

"So you didn't, huh? Okay then, let's just walk around in the city. It shouldn't be too hard to find, should it?" Mio was expecting something along those lines already.

"Having decided on that _plan_ , the two continued to aimlessly wander around in the city. Unfortunately, it wasn't as fun as they thought. Rather, for Naomi at least, it was no fun at all. While walking around, she was getting a lot of attention in the form of stares from every direction because of her exotic looks. The two were hearing a lot of mumbling from people about how she's a foreigner and similar things, but especially the kids weren't holding back in the slightest.

"Mommy, look at that girl over there!" A young boy that was together with her mother was pointing his finger at Naomi.

"D-Dear, you shouldn't point at people…"

"But… Look at her, she's looking totally different from all the others… Her hair looks all fluffy, and the color looks odd, too… Her eyes seem to be different as well!"

"Dear… That's because she's a foreigner. People from other countries look different from us Japanese."

"What's up with that… So weird!" The kid probably didn't mean any harm because he didn't know it any better yet, but the words hurt nonetheless, and Naomi didn't take it well.

"M-Mio-chan…" With tears in the corners of her eyes, Naomi instinctively hid behind Mio's back to divert the attention.

"Yeah… Let's hide somewhere." Personally, Mio isn't bothered by getting attention in the slightest, but because Naomi isn't good at handling it, she wanted to help her.

While Naomi continued to hide behind her back, Mio quickly guided her into the next best café that seemed to be empty.

"T-Thanks, Mio-chan… That was scary…" Still being somewhat pale, Naomi nervously sipped the tea they had ordered when entering the café.

"That sure was a bratty kid…" Mio let out a sigh. "Maybe I should teach him a _lesson_. It's been a while since the last time I did that~."

"A-Ah, no… He's just a kid…" For a moment, it seemed like Naomi had remembered something frightening when she heard Naomi's suggestion.

"Fine… If you say so…" Mio looked disappointed.

"Anyway, thanks for saving me, Mio-chan…"

"Sure, anytime." She was used to it already.

"Hehe~." Naomi liked her answer.

"Oh, they also have cake here. Let's order some! Let's see… Oh, I'm so getting the chocolate one~." Mio changed the topic as she started browsing through the menu and quickly found something interesting.

"You get excited as soon as it comes to western sweets, huh?"

"Of course, they're the best after all."

"You'll seriously make grandma cry one day…" Naomi felt sorry for a certain sweets store owner.

"She should just go with the flow of time and sell some sweets that are actually good…" She wasn't showing the slightest hint of mercy.

"Poor grandma."

"I take it you don't want any cake, then, Naomi?"

"E-Eh…? I never said that." Even though she prefers Japanese sweets, cake is still cake. "Of course I will! I wonder if they have something lots of fruits~." It suddenly wasn't a problem anymore.

"Ahaha, well then, let's order something." Both decided on a cake they liked and ate it with great delight afterward. "Ah, this is the best~. Western sweets really are so much better."

"Don't bully grandma so much, Mio-chan!" Naomi felt sorry for her again. "Well… They aren't half bad, I have to admit that."

"Your face is a lot more honest, Naomi… With that smile of pure bliss and all."

"T-That's just your imagination! Japanese sweets will always be my number one!"

"Yes, yes, sure~. Let's finish the cake. We still have something to do, haven't we?"

"Ah, right… The cosplay store…" Naomi should be happy about it, but she looked slightly conflicted.

"Don't worry about it. I kept checking the outside through the window, and there are a lot fewer people outside now." Mio knew why she was looking like that.

"M-Mio-chan…"

"You were worried about it the whole time, right? You got better at hiding it, but it's no use in front of me."

"Haha, of course, you noticed…" Naomi let out a dry laugh. "I'm not sure whether I should be happy about it, or disappointed in myself for not being able to hide it better…"

"Like you'll ever be able to hide something from. Not that I'll be able to, either…"

"The pros and cons of growing up and spending so much time together…" Both knew each other so well that they even noticed the slightest things from each other.

"On the other hand, if you're scared to the point of hiding behind my back with tears in your eyes, it's pretty clear that you're going to be worried for longer than ten minutes. If you want to be able to hide it better, you should start with that."

"Auu…"

Once they finished their cake and emptied the rest of tea, the two paid and left the café again. Just as promised, there were a lot less people outside now. The two probably came at a bad time earlier. Yesterday, when they first arrived in the city, there weren't many people around either.

"Look, it's much better now, right?"

"Y-Yes…" Even so, Naomi was still nervously looking around for people.

"It's kind of funny how that happens in almost every city we visit, in Japan at least, but you still kidnap me for trips on like every other weekend, Naomi."

"No pain, no gain." She wanted to sound cool.

"Is that so? Okay, let's look for a group of people to gain even more."

"No, sorry, I lied! Please don't do that! I just wanted to say that once! It's only because traveling with you is fun and to see interesting places is nice! I would gladly get rid of all those people if I could…" Naomi was panicking.

"I-I see…" Mio was slightly worried about the last part.

"Ah! Look, Mio-chan, I found the cosplay store!" The two had just turned at a corner when a big building came to view.

"What a nice timing."

"Let's go, Mio-chan!" Her nervousness from earlier was completely gone and was replaced by excitement. Naomi went behind her and energetically pushed Mio towards the cosplay store.

"That's going to be one long day…"

The two went inside, and Naomi looked like a child who had just entered a candy store. With sparkling eyes, she looked at literally everything and didn't know where to start.

"M-Mio-chan, that's bad… What should I do? There's just way too much! There's no way I can choose!"

"That certainly is a big problem…" Mio's voice was as monotonous as it could get.

"Hmm… Hmm… Okay, let's start with the corner over there." Because she couldn't decide, she simply pointed in a random direction.

"Sure, why not…" Mio really wasn't enthusiastic about the whole thing. Even so, she followed Naomi, and the two began looking around. "I really hope that this Konata girl will become her friend… If I do all that here for nothing… haa…" She could only sigh, but after seeing Naomi's happy face, she had a tough time with being angry.

"Oh, look at that, Mio-chan! No, wait! That one's even better! No, that!" Naomi was way too excited and picked one cosplay outfit after another while she happily ran around in the store.

"Haa…" Another sigh escaped her lips because she couldn't nearly match Naomi's enthusiasm. "She's way too into it… While I do agree that it's kind of fun to dress up an all, in moderation, that is… But, how can one get so excited about… Hmm?" Mio suddenly stopped in the middle of her monologue when she found something that caught even her interest. "Let's see… Is that a school uniform from some anime as well? I don't think Naomi ever made me watch it, though… It actually looks pretty cute." She was looking at an all red one-piece dress-like school uniform with vertical stripes and a big, black bow on the chest and the back. The uniform had short sleeves, apparently a summer uniform, which had a black and white accent at the end. The same black and white accent was also around the neck towards the bow on the chest. "That super short skirt part of the one-piece is seriously embarrassing, but it's overall really nice. I wonder what it's from…" Mio had taken a liking to this particular cosplay.

"Oho~, nice find, Mio-chan." Naomi popped up next to her out of nowhere and looked at the cosplay as well. "They even have uniforms from Visual Novels here, huh? This store is seriously awesome."

"N-Naomi?! Where did you come from?" She was startled by her sudden appearance. "Wait, that sounds like you know where this uniform's from."

"Of course I do. It's from a rather famous and really long Visual Novel series. I think there are over 20 games in total. I only played the main series, though… Well, that's still, ehm… about 15 or 16 games."

"You sure have a lot of time on your hands, don't you?"

"Tehe~. Anyway, you should play the games as well, Mio-chan. They're really good, and you like reading after all."

"Not so fast, what is the series even about? No, how about starting with the name of it first?"

"Ah, right… It's the 'A kiss for the petals' – series. The plot… The plot, huh? Hmm, the setting is an all-girls school, and it's also R-18, so…"

"Ah, I get the gist of it." Mio knew where it was going from here on out.

"But the characters are also interesting and cute, and it's actually pretty romantic!" Naomi tried her best to sell her on the games.

"Alright, fine, I'll try one on the next day off."

"Yay~. So, you're interested in the uniform, or why were you looking at it so intently?"

"W-Well…"

"That's surprising… For Mio-chan to be interested in cosplay all on her own."

"I just thought the uniform is kind of cute, that's all…" Mio didn't want to admit that she was indeed interested.

"Okay, that settles it. We're getting that cosplay as well. I can't let that chance slip by."

"Eh… Ah, sure…" She tried her best to hide how she was happy for a chance to wear a cosplay she liked for once.

"Hmm… I think I'll get a uniform as well. I wonder if they have one in my size~."

"Huh? You usually only make me dress up. What's up with that now?"

"Well… The series features various different couples, so cosplaying together as one as well should be fun. Also, because Mio-chan's the one who chose the cosplay, I thought we might as well go all out this time.

"Okay." She only gave a short answer because Mio liked the idea.

"Yay! Okay, let's keep looking for more, then!"

"Ehh?! We're still not done?" Mio really hoped they could go home now.

"What kind of joke is that, Mio-chan?" Naomi only looked in pure disbelief at her.

"…"

The two spent about three more hours in the cosplay store before finally leaving again. Aside from the cosplay Mio chose, Naomi easily bought like ten more outfits for Mio, if not even more. It was hard to count because Naomi simply had a big pile of clothes in her arms.

"Ah, this is going to be soo much fun~." On the way back to the hotel, Naomi was in an extraordinarily good mood while carrying a lot of bags from the cosplay store.

"You totally overdid it… Half of it would've been more than enough." Mio was slightly angry that Naomi bought so much, but there was nothing she could do. After all, today was for the sake of Naomi meeting up with Konata and Kagami, and possibly befriending them as well. Because of that, Mio had to bear with it. "You better keep your promise now as well!"

"My promise…?" Naomi had forgotten about it.

"Hey… You're just joking, right? I'm talking about meeting up with the girl you met before and the one that came to grandma's sweets store."

"A-Ah, right… I absolutely haven't forgotten, though! More like… I hoped you had…"

"Sorry, but that's not going to happen. Also, because I went cosplay shopping with you today, there's no way out for you anymore~."  
"Y-Yes…" Naomi gave in without a fight.

"Good~."

…

Back at the hotel, the two decided to try out the hotel-own hot spring before getting comfortable in their room.

"Ah, that was a nice hot spring~." Naomi was visibly relaxed looking when they were back in the room after having taken a bath there.

"Seriously… Such a nice hot spring. Relaxing in that is just the best~. Aha~, I want a hot spring all for my own where I can relax in every day…"

"Really? Should I call daddy? It shouldn't be such a big problem to get one dug out for the two of us." There wasn't a single hint that she was joking in her voice.

"You know what's scary? You don't only sound like you would do it… You actually _can_ do it… Your father sure is something else."

"So…?" Naomi grabbed her phone and waited for her answer.

"…" Mio hesitated for a moment. "N-No… I… I don't need one…" She wasn't fooling anyone, though.

"Sure~." With a cheeky smile on her face, Naomi put her phone away again. "Anyway, the cosplay! Let's get started already!" Her excitement about to reach maximum again.

"Sure, sure… Which one do you want me to wear first?" She looked at the vast mountain of cosplay.

"Hmm… How about we start with the Visual Novel one? Let's wear it together."

"Okay. That's at least less embarrassing this way if the two of us wear it together."

"Yay~." Naomi was happy, and the two began dressing up in the red school uniform of the *A kiss for the petals' Visual Novel series. It was easy to put on because the uniform was a one-piece that's only buttoned up at the front. After tying the ribbon on the chest as well, it was done already.

"Haa… Although it really is cute, that uniform, the skirt part is seriously short… Forget bending forwards, even walking is dangerous already… Maybe just standing around and you can see everything…"

"Yes, it's very cute." Naomi completely ignored her complain as she happily twirled around in the room. Coincidentally, while she was twirling around, she easily proved Mio's point without even noticing. "You made a great choice here, Mio-chan."

"Thanks… Now come here already." Because she was getting a little annoyed by how excited she was, Mio grabbed Naomi from behind and trapped her in her arms, effectively stopping her from running around all over the place.

"Ehehe~." Naomi instantly calmed down thanks to the sudden hug and happily returned it by putting her hands on Mio's arms. "We should cosplay together more often. Watching you wear all kinds of clothes is nice and all, but doing it together is actually kind of fun on its own. No, it's super fun!"

"I'm glad to hear that. Doing it together makes it less of a shame play for me…" Mio was always embarrassed doing it alone. "But, even so, do it in moderation, okay? You don't want me to get angry again, do you?"

"O-Of course!" Because she knew that an angry Mio is no joke, Naomi complied. That's at least what she said.

"What now, Naomi? Should I change into another cosplay?" It's not like Mio actually wanted to, but today was Naomi's day.

"Nah, it's fine~."

"E-Eh…?" This wasn't something she had expected.

"It would be too sad to already change out of this cosplay because it's so cute. Also… This is the only one we can wear together, so…" Naomi had taken a real liking to cosplaying together.

"Okay, sure…" Mio wasn't going to complain. "What then? Are we continuing to wear it while simply relaxing in the suite here?"

"Hmm… We could do that, but…" Naomi didn't seem overly excited by the idea. "Oh, how about we replay a scene from the games instead, Mio-chan?"

"H-Huh? I never played the games, you know? Replaying a scene should be kind of complicated without knowing the text or even the plot."

"That's no problem at all, Mio-chan~. The games have a lot of scenes where the text has no importance at all, and the rest of the scene is self-explanatory as well."

"Eh, what are you talking about?" Mio didn't understand what she was trying to imply.

"Remember how I said the games are R-18?"

"I do, but what does that have to do with… Ah!" She finally understood the connection. "Sounds kinky, I'm in~." She didn't hesitate with her answer.

Afterward, even though Naomi said it would be a waste to already change out of the uniform, it soon became at least partially undone, before it ended up on the floor after a while for the rest of the night.

Just like that, their trip for cosplay shopping as a reward for Naomi soon came to an end. Thanks to that, she had agreed to Mio that she's going to meet up with Konata and Kagami in the future.

* * *

…

This chapter sure took a while. I'm sorry about that. Something unexpected and unfun happened, and I was unable to write for a long time.

There's a Bonus for this chapter. I made an actual Illustration of Mio and Naomi cosplaying.

www. , imgur. , com/a/xSFXYyG (Remove the ' , ') (Also in my Profile as normal link)

It's not really good, but I don't think it's _that_ bad for my, more or less, first try. Okay, the version with their eyes open looks really odd. That happened because I drew the eyes on its own before adding it to the rest, and this totally didn't work out and I gave up on that version towards the end... I'm, _somewhat (a little)_ , confident with the closed-eye version, though. Then again, I'm not overly happy with the art style of this illustration in the first place because I was too fixated on copying the style of the game. Also… Now that I see the illustrations on a different monitor, the colors seem a bit pale/faint… Well, there's always a next time. The next one I'll do will probably look completely different. I'm more of a fan of not so sharp drawings like watercolor and pastel. I'll try my luck on that the next time.

I had a lot of time on my hand, though, and played a lot of games because I wasn't able to do much more than that during the time… That's also how I got the cosplay inspiration for this chapter. Like Naomi in the story, I played every game of the 'SonoHana` / 'A kiss for the petals' main-series. It took me almost 4 weeks to play those 15 or 16 games, but it was totally worth it. I loved almost every couple from the games, but Shizuku and Eris won the ranking~. I even got a bit too invested in it so that I actually was really sad once I played everything. Thanks to that, I'll probably add some things from the Visual Novels in my chapters in the future. I really recommend playing the games (Although it's rather famous, so most of you probably know it already). Too bad my absolute favorite game of the series is still untranslated (actually, place 2, too), so the recommendation on that is a little complicated.

Anyway, enough with my random rambling… This time was a full-on Mio and Naomi chapter because I wanted to introduce more of them. It won't be too long until they meet up with Konata and Kagami, and so I'm laying down the fundamentals of their characters. Some things don't make any sense yet, but those things will clear up once the two couples meet, and getting to know each other. This chapter basically was a scene of Mio and Naomi's everyday life without much explaining.

Okay, even though it feels like I forgot a ton of things I wanted to say because so much time passed since last time, let's get to the end of it.

The next chapter will finally be about the graduation from high school of our third years. I kind of want to do something emotional (with Kuroi-sensei), but I'm not sure how that will play out… After that, I think it's about time for the first years again, and something dedicated to Tsukasa and Miyuki, but I haven't put much thought into that yet.


	52. Graduation

"A-Ah, Konata-san, welcome…"

"E-Ehh…?"

"Come in, onee-san is in her room."

"Ehhh…?" Konata arrived at Kagami's place ad Tsukasa had opened the door, but for some reason, though, something seemed to be very different from usual. "T-Tsukasa, why are you speaking so formal…? Is something wrong?" She had never heard Tsukasa addressing her like that before.

"No, everything is fine, Konata-san. Well then, let me guide you to onee-san's room."

"O-Okay…?" Because Konata wasn't able to adequately deal with the situation, she quietly and obediently followed her upstairs while being completely dumbfounded and confused.

"Onee-san, I'm sorry to interrupt while you're busy, but Konata-san has come to visit." She politely knocked on the door and waited for an answer.

"Haa…" A groan came from the other side of the door. "Just come in already, sis…"

"Ah, no, I'm still rather busy as well, so I'll have to excuse myself, onee-san. Well then, have a good time, Konata-san." With an awkward bow, Tsukasa quickly left and disappeared into her room while Konata stormed into Kagami's.

"K-K-Kagamin~!" She was in a total panic.

"Welcome, Kona…"

"Ah, welcome… No, it's not the time for that! What the hell happened to Tsukasa?!"

"Ahaha…" A dry laugh escaped her lips as she quickly looked away.

"Wait a moment… What have done to her?!" Konata easily noticed that Kagami was the culprit.

"W-Well… nothing major… There was just a tiny little _accident_ on my end…"

"No, judging from Tsukasa's behavior, that was nothing even remotely tiny."

"I-It really wasn't much…" Kagami struggled for a second before continuing. "Remember when we watched those… videos in Yokohama?"

"Of course I do, it was a lot of _fun_ ~."

"Do you remember how we ended up watching them in the first place?"

"Hmm… Because Kagamin~'s a pervert, right? Ah, no, you had this stupid idea to send Tsukasa some _tame_ videos for _educational_ purposes, hadn't you? Oh… Let me guess, it didn't work as planned, huh? Boy, am I surprised! Nobody could've seen that coming…" She wasn't surprised at all.

"That's not… exactly what happened…"

"What else is it, then?"

"When I send the videos to Tsukasa, I made a tiny little _accident_ …" She said those words already.

"K-Kagamin~…?" Konata had a bad feeling.

"Remember that one video that made you more… _excited_ than every other one together?"

"Yeah… Wait, did you… Tell me you didn't…"

"Yes… That video was accidentally between the others when I send them to Tsukasa…"

"Okay, that explains a little why she's so… like she currently is…"

"Yeah… I traumatized her a little, and I have a feeling it's going to take a while for her to recover…"

"I can fully understand why…" Konata had no problems imagining what such an _intense_ video like that could do to someone like Tsukasa. "Wait a minute, stop! I get why she's acting like that towards you, but why am I getting this cold treatment as well?! Good old _Kona-chan_ did nothing wrong to warrant this treatment as well, didn't she?"

"W-Well… Tsukasa naturally, and rightfully assumed that you're taking part in the _activities_ shown in the video as well, being my girlfriend and all…"

"W-Why?! Hmm… Not that it's wrong…" Konata had her troubles refuting that statement. "That's super unfair, though! I don't want to get the cold shoulder from Tsukasa! Do something about this, Kagamin~. Now!"

"Don't you think I tried my best already? I don't like this at all, either! Also, she isn't giving us the cold shoulder…"

"It sure felt cold to me…"

"She's _just_ a little disillusioned by how much more of an adult we are, more than she had ever imagined…"

"That's not better in the slightest!" Konata actually would've preferred receiving a cold shoulder from her instead.

"Yeah…" Kagami let out a sigh. "I think all we can do is to give her more time to recover to get over it again…"

"I told you that it was a bad idea from the very beginning, did I not?!" She was angry at her.

"I'm very sorry, Kona…" There was nothing more Kagami could do or say in this situation.

"Good grief… Remember the time when I was the stupid one in this relationship? Time sure flies… I wonder what happened."

" _You_ , that's what happened, Kona."

"Hmm…" She wasn't sure what to answer, mainly because she thought Kagami was probably right.

"Anyway, I am sorry, so please forgive me for dragging you into it. Give her a little time, and it'll go back to normal soon enough. Oh, maybe you could go shopping with her as well, this should help you bond with her again.

"Time it is!" Konata hated the current situation with how Tsukasa was acting towards her, but some lines shouldn't ever be crossed again. "You know, I really love your little sister, and see her a bit like my own, but that's a big no."

"Hehe." Kagami let out a small chuckle. "Okay, now that you're here already, do you want to help me with the packing for Yokohama?" She decided to end the topic. Her room was looking quite chaotic. There were already many packed boxes, but there was still stuff all over the place.

"That's why I came over in the first place… I can't believe you're still not done, Kagamin~. You're such a sloth~."

"I-It's not that easy, you know?"

"I'm all done for a few days already, _you_ know?" The only thing left is the furniture that is going to stay and the one shelf with anime figures that you didn't allow to bring with me…"

"D-Don't look at me like that…" Kagami didn't like Konata's facial expression when she was saying the last part while looking at her.

"You do know that you more or less only have today left, right, Kagamin~?" Our graduation ceremony is tomorrow, and we immediately wanted to head over to Yokohama the day after because we didn't want to waste any time."

"How about you stop talking and get going instead? It's not like you're helping right now."

"Fair point. As you command, my princess~." Konata stopped complaining, grabbed some of Kagami's light novels and put them in an empty box.

The two continued to stow away Kagami's things, and the room eventually became empty. By the time they had finished packing, it had gotten late already, and because of that, just because of that, Konata decided to stay the night at Kagami's place.

"Ah, it's finally done." Kagami comfortably stretched her arms before she let herself fall down on the bed. "Thanks, Kona."

"Mmn, good work, Kagamin~." Konata did precisely the same and the two relaxed in silence for a minute or two on the bed.

"But… Just thinking about how we also have to unpack all this stuff again… Ah~, I really don't want to~…" Kagami was throwing a small tantrum.

"The childish Kagamin~ sure is cute. Think of it that way; Once you've unpacked your stuff again, we're done moving, and we have a place just for the two of us." Konata's way of persuading her was very effective because a big smile instantly appeared on her face.

"Ehehe~." Sometimes, Kagami was a really easy person. "Yes, you're right, it's going to be awesome~."

"I can't wait."

"Yeah." Kagami looked extremely happy. "I wonder what we should do first once we're officially living in our apartment."

"Hmm…"

"Hmm~." The two were pretending to think about it, but the knowing gazes they were exchanging made everything clear already. While thinking about the perfect first day in their new home, including some _trial runs_ , the night quickly flew by, and the morning of the next day arrived, the day where Konata, Kagami, Tsukasa, and Miyuki are graduating from high school.

….

Their last day in high school passed in a flash and the girls' graduation ceremony was already over. The hallways and classrooms of the third years were busier than ever. Everyone was saying their goodbyes, underclassmen were trying their best in using the last chance with their senpais with whichever goal in mind. It was overall a very emotional mood. Konata, Kagami, Miyuki, and Tsukasa were also talking to acquaintances and friends they made over the past years. One after another said their goodbyes as well and the four were soon the only ones left. After going over the plans for the evening again, the girls were invited by Yutaka and the others to a graduation party they're hosting for them, Miyuki and Tsukasa hurried back home as well. Konata had still someone she wanted to meet, and Kagami decided to tag along.

"Ah, there you are, sensei!" Konata finally found the person in question, Kuroi-sensei, and quickly walked up to her.

"Oh, you're still here, Izumi? What's up?"

"I wanted to see you~." Konata jokingly made it extra suggestive.

"Ahaha, I'm honored, but is that something you should say with Hiiragi being right behind you?"

"It's fine~."

"So, what do you want?" Kuroi-sensei knew she was just having a bit of fun.

"Actually…" Konata hesitated a few seconds before finding the right words. "I wanted to… thank you, sensei…"

"H-Huh…?" That wasn't in the range of her expected answers.

"The past three years in high school were something I hadn't expected it to be when I first came here… They were awesome. You, as my teacher, were one of the reasons I had fun here, finding awesome friends, the other one. Not to mention Kagamin~, of course." Konata took a quick glance at the warmly smiling girl next to her before continuing. "She's obviously the best thing that had ever happened to me, but you, sensei, were important as well. Not just as a teacher, but even more so as a friend. Be it in our online games, or in private matters…"

"Izumi…" Kuroi-sensei had no idea how to react and continued to look at her with big eyes.

"So, again, thank you for everything that happened during the last three years, sensei." Completely out of character, Konata deeply bowed in front of her.

"Y-You can't do that, Izumi…" She had a hard time dealing with the situation. "Here I was able to send off my whole class without getting sentimental, and you're…" She stopped herself mid-sentence she was about to lose to her emotions.

"Wow…" Kagami quietly murmured to herself as she was a little overwhelmed. She knew that Konata can be quite emotional if she wants to, but the scene in front of her, especially Kuroi-sensei, was unexpected.

"That's… That's not even the main reason I want to thank you, sensei…" Konata still wasn't done with it. "Remember… well, almost two years ago? When Kagamin~ and I weren't together yet? I was realizing my feelings for her and that had led to a lot of trouble…" Konata nostalgically looked at the past. "I had no idea what I should do and was a real handful during that time because I wasn't able to make the next step."

"Yeah, you were a real pain, Izumi…" Kuroi-sensei began to smile as she recalled the time when Konata tried her best to hide it, and she forcefully pressed it out of her during one of their gaming sessions.

"Because you didn't want to leave me alone back then, gave me a ton of advice, and pushed me into embracing my feelings for Kagamin~, I'm in this beautiful relationship today. You saved the two of us a ton of trouble and probably also prevented unnecessary drama to happen. I'm… not sure how I'll ever be able to repay this debt, but I'll forever be grateful to you, sensei…" Konata looked at the floor to hide her face because her eyes were getting a little puffy.

"Let me thank you for this as well, sensei." Kagami suddenly bowed down as well. "Kona and I were huge idiots back then and who knows what would've happened if nobody helped us during that time…"

"Izumi… No, Konata…" Because the time as her actual teacher was over now, she used her given name for the first time. Just like Konata's, Kuroi-sensei's eyes were puffy as well, and it looked like she would cry any second now. Because she couldn't hold back her emotions any longer, she took a step forward and tightly hugged Konata.

"…" She was unable to say anything and hugged her back while hiding her face in embarrassment.

"Aww…" Kagami watched them with a sweet smile and seemed to be happy for the two.

"…"

"…" After Konata and Kuroi-sensei parted from their hug after a while, the mood between them became a little awkward. Neither of them had planned to be this emotional after all.

"Hey…" Kagami tried to get the conversation running again. "Sensei… You know that Kona and I are moving to Yokohama tomorrow, right?"

"Wow, tomorrow already?" She knew about their college plans, but not the actual date. "You two sure waste no time at all. Anyway, why are you asking, Kagami?" While she was at it, Kuroi-sensei decided to use her given name as well.

"Are you interested in visiting us once we're all settled in there? We would love to have you there, right, Kona?"

"Eh… Ah, sure, please come, sensei!"

"Are you two serious?"

"Of course!" Konata didn't hesitate for a second before answering. "We have so much place in our apartment that you even could stay a night as well!"

"Now you're just bragging, aren't you?"

"A little bit~." The mood between Konata and Kuroi-sensei quickly turned back to normal.

"Well, thanks for the invitation, you two. I'll gladly come to visit. Hmm… How does a day during golden week sound? All of us should have some free time then, right?" Kuroi-sensei decided to come over in the future.

"Yes, that should work. Let's exchange some emails before Golden Week and decide on a date."

"Let's do that. Well then…" Kuroi-sensei took a deep breath. "I think it's for you to head home… Konata, Kagami… it's been an honor. You were outstanding students, maybe not entirely in the traditional way, but in many others, and I'm going to miss you. I hope you'll be successful in college, and even more so in your private life. Also, have a lot of fun in the future and don't forget me too soon, okay?"

"Thank you, sensei. No, I'm never going to forget you…" Konata's eyes got puffy again. "Also, we'll still meet up in our games, right?"

"If the wife lets you, sure."

"Thank you, sensei." Kagami completely ignored her statement and simply exchanged some handshakes with Kuroi-sensei.

"Goodbye, Konata." She extended her hand towards her and Konata grabbed with both of hers.

"Goodbye, sensei." While looking at each other and shaking hands, both were trying to hold back that single tear that was forming in the corners of their misty eyes, but ultimately failed, and it silently ran down their cheeks. Neither of them said anything, though. Kagami's eyes were becoming red as well while she was watching the two. Because she wouldn't last much longer if the scene in from of her continues like that, not to mention the dignity of the two, it was time to leave.

After parting from Kuroi-sensei, the couple left their high school for the last time as students. Once they left the school grounds, both turned around to take a last look at the building before finally heading home with a melancholic, yet happy expression.

…..

Their graduation was over, but the day wasn't yet for the graduates. Minami, Yutaka, and Hiyori had invited them to a small graduation party they're hosting for them at Minami's place.

Konata and Kagami had arrived already, but Miyuki and Tsukasa were running late for some reason, even though Miyuki basically lives next door. Because of that, the girls decided to spend the time with chatting while waiting for them.

"Okay~, it's time for the template question." Hiyori seemed to be interested in something. "Konata-senpai, how many confessions had happened among the third years today? Using their last chance and all~."

"Hehe, as expected of Hiyorin. Let's see… I saw a few, but especially the underclassmen were really aggressive today.

"Ha, I knew it~. I have to make some investigations next week then. More importantly, what about you guys, Konata-senpai?"

"Ehh…?"

"Well… your classmates didn't know that you two are dating, right? Also, Miyuki-senpai surely should've been popular. I know at least _two_ reasons for that… Tsukasa-senpai as well. She looks like someone who has a lot of secret fans if you ask me."

"Hmm… Our teacher knew about us, but other than that… I don't think so… But, nope, none of us were actually popular in the slightest." Konata said it as a matter of fact, but even after graduating, none of them ever noticed that no one simply dared to approach the tightly knit group around Konata, Kagami, Tsukasa, and Miyuki. Popularity never was the problem. That, and how everyone was at least a little scared of Kagami for various reasons.

"Aww, how boring…" Hiyori was disappointed for a moment. "Wait… What was that just now?! Your teacher knew about your relationship with Kagami-senpai?!"

"Yeah, she actually helped me getting together with Kagamin~ in the first place back then."

"Wow… I don't know your teacher, but I like her already."

"Yes, Kuroi-sensei was the best…"

The girls chatted for a good while longer and almost an hour had passed since Konata and Kagami arrived at Minami's place. Slowly but surely, the group was becoming a little worried that Miyuki and Tsukasa hadn't shown up yet.

Just when Kagami was about to call Miyuki with her phone because things were still awkward with her sister, the doorbell rang, and Minami quickly went to open the door.

"Ah, there you are…" Kagami put her phone away again and greeted them as Miyuki and Tsukasa entered the room.

"I'm very sorry, everyone…" Miyuki swiftly apologized. "We were _busy_ with a little _something_ and ended up being late, right, Tsukasa-san?"

"Yes~." She seemed to be really happy for some reason, but so was Miyuki, even though she had just apologized for being late to everyone. The two were smiling from ear to ear.

"Okay…"

"Yeah…" Konata and Kagami had noticed that something had obviously happened, but from how they were acting, it seemed to be too much of a pain to ask. Also, because of their looks, it was as clear as a day that it was something _good_ , and much likely something they couldn't talk about with the others present in the first place.

Now that everyone was finally present, the first years officially started the graduation party they had planned for all of them.

"Congratulations on graduating, everyone~." The first years had lined up in front of the girls and gave everyone a bouquet of flowers they had prepared beforehand while congratulating them.

"Thank you…" Miyuki, Tsukasa, Kagami, and Konata were all touched by the lovely gesture of their underclassmen and were really happy about it. "We have such underclassmen."

"Ehehe~." Yutaka was happy about their reaction.

"Y-You're welcome…" Minami liked it as well.

"Seems like it was a success. Okay then, before we get to the food part, let's chat a little more~." Hiyori still hadn't enough from her earlier conversations. "So, what are everyone's plans for the future after high school now?"

"Ah~, Hiyorin will never change." Konata had expected just that from her. "Hmm… Let's see… Well, Kagamin~ and my plans are pretty well known already, aren't they? We're going to do our best in college in Yokohama without any distraction whatsoever~."

"No distractions, huh? Are you sure we should live together then, Kona?" Kagami didn't believe a single word from her.

"Ah… I think I mixed something up there… We're going to do our best living together in Yokohama while not getting distracted by college whatsoever~. No? Okay, maybe a little distraction from college."

"Well, at least you're honest now… Let's talk about the rest later, okay~?"

"As expected from the idiot power couple." Hiyori was very pleased with their answers.

"Oi!" A simultaneous retort was given to the word idiot from said couple.

"Am I wrong?"

"…" Konata and Kagami instantly turned silent again.

"What about you two? What are your plans, Miyuki-senpai and Tsukasa-senpai?"

"Me?" Miyuki pointed hat herself. "Okay, on the contrary to Kagami-san and Konata-san, I'm staying at home because my college is in Tokyo and thus not that far away. Because I'm studying medicine in the long run, I'll have to give my best in college. Other than that, the free time I won't be spending studying will surely be dedicated to Tsukasa-san because I still want to see her as often as possible."

"Okay… That's awesome…" Hiyori was impressed by her plans, but _something_ was bothering her for some reason. "T-Tsukasa-senpai, what about you…?"

"Yes… Well, I'm also going to stay at home like Yuki-chan and going to attend a cooking school because I love to cook and especially bake. It's also super cool that the school is really close to Yuki-chan's place because I can easily visit her whenever she's free this way. I'm very happy about that. Also, because the lessons are only on three, occasionally four days a week, I'm thinking about getting a part-time job for a little extra money. I started looking for one, but haven't found anything yet… I want to do something creative with food, or much rather sweets… Maybe a bakery that focuses on sweets or…"

"Okay, wait a minute there…" Hiyori had to interrupt her because there was something really odd in her opinion.

"What is it, Hiyori-chan?" Tsukasa had no idea why she stopped her all of a sudden.

"Why… Erm, why is it so important that your cooking school is so close to Miyuki-senpai…? And Miyuki-senpai… why are you so dedicated to spending your free time with Tsukasa-senpai as often as possible and wanting to see her…?" Hiyori was utterly confused about the importance of each other for the two. "I mean, sure, I know you two are close friends and all, but…" Various scenarios in her head would explain it, but she _knew_ that those couldn't be the reason.

"Ah, that's because Tsukasa-san and I are dating after all." With a casualness no one thought Miyuki would be able to, she dropped a gigantic bomb.

"…" The entire room fell silent. Not even Konata and Kagami could say a single word because, even though they knew about their relationship, neither of them could deal with the situation on the spot.

"Yuki-chan… You really were serious when you said no more wasting time, huh?"

"Of course! We did more than enough of that already. It's about time we're more open about our relationship to a healthier degree. "There was absolutely no hint of nervousness in her voice. Miyuki just looked happy and like the textbook example of confidence.

"Wow…" Konata and Kagami had the exact same reaction. Compared to Miyuki's stance of trying their best to hide their relationship before, this was too much of a change to merely gloss over it.

"Ha." Hiyori's left eye began to twitch. "Mh-hm…" Actually, it was almost the whole left side of her face. "Okay…" Her brain was still processing the situation. "W-What?! I-Is that really true…?"

"Of course~."

"I wouldn't lie about something like this, Hiyori-san."

"This can't be… Am I dead? Is this heaven? This is the heaven, right?" She couldn't believe her luck. "Wow… Okay, I have questions, lots of questions!" Even though she was beyond excited, Hiyori tried her best to stay somewhat calm. "First and foremost, how long are the two of you dating? Not long, right? I haven't noticed anything at all after all, not even the slightest hint.

"This depends a little on your definition of _long_ , Hiyori-san. Tsukasa-san and I started dating during Golden Week last year. So, actually, our one-year anniversary is not that far away." Miyuki was incredibly open about it today.

"…" Hiyori didn't take this information well. "That's… Seriously?! Okay, it's official now… My yuri-radar needs to be turned in for repair. It's obviously not working as intended anymore… First, it failed to detect the idiot couple, and I wasn't able to notice until they literally rubbed it into my face and now that… Just how blind am I?"

"Oi!" Kagami's complaint fell on deaf ears.

"You shouldn't mind it too much, Hiyorin." Konata tried to console her. "Unlike Kagamin~ and I, the two tried their best to hide their relationship until now."

"Onee… Ehm, Miyuki… Tsukasa-senpai as well, I'm happy you two are finally able to be more open about it. I'm sure it's much easier now." Minami almost said something embarrassing, but she managed to earnestly congratulate them on the topic

"Hmm… Hmm?!" Hiyori changed her attention to Minami and glared daggers at her. "What's that supposed to mean? D-Don't tell me you knew about the two's relationship?! Why didn't you tell me?!"

"T-That's…" Minami was intimidated by her.

"Hiyori-san, Minami is my childhood friend. Actually, she's my oldest friend, so I was only confident enough to open up to her about it until now." Miyuki explained it to her.

"I see… Hmm… That's okay then, I guess…" Hiyori accepted the reason, but she still had mixed feelings about it.

"Ehm…" Yutaka wanted to say something as well, but wasn't exactly sure what. "I don't really get it, but I'm happy for you two as well…"

"Thank you." Miyuki understood her good intention.

"Hmm…" Hiyori still wasn't done yet. Her eyes between to wander between Minami and Yutaka "You two, by any chance, is there something, anything, you want to tell me?" She was interested in their relationship since the very beginning after all, and now, after the second confirmed couple without her realizing, she just had to ask.

"Eh…?" Minami and Yutaka only tilted her head in confusion, not knowing what Hiyori was trying to imply.

"Aww, come on! Yep, it's official… my yuri sensor is completely broken…" She gave up on it and changed the attention back to the _new_ couple again. "Miyuki-senpai, Tsukasa-senpai…" Hiyori asked them many more questions, but she tried to keep it more or less tame because she wasn't that close with the two, compared to Kagami and Konata. "Okay, my last question, I think… How did you tell your parents about it and how did they react? I'm currently working on a little side project, and I planned something similar in that manga so I could use some inspirations~."

"Yep, that's my Hiyorin." Konata knew she had some ulterior motives with her questions. "They haven't told their parents…" She wanted to help the couple, but Miyuki unexpectedly stopped her.

"A-Actually…" For the first time today, she actually looked somewhat embarrassed and nervous. "You see, there was a good reason we were late today…"

"Y-You don't mean…" Konata's, Kagami's, and Hiyori's voices all magically overlapped.

"Yes." Tsukasa gave a short confirmation.

"Mainly for Tsukasa's sake, because she was suffering from hiding our relationship, not that I wasn't… I decided last week that we're going to tell our parents about us the moment we graduated, and that's what happened earlier…"

"Wow…"

"Tsukasa-san and I were super nervous, but luckily everything went well. Tsukasa-san's parents were super cool, and we had no trouble with them whatsoever. Well, it's not their first time getting confronted with something like that after all." Miyuki looked in the direction of Konata and Kagami while saying the last part.

"Unfortunately, we could only tell Yuki-chan's mother in person because her dad's still on a trip, but we told him over the phone afterward, and everything went well as well. Yuki-chan's mom was super surprised and also a bit confused because she hadn't noticed anything at all, but she had nothing against it."

"Mom loves Tsukasa as well after all."

"Especially my food~." Yukari, Miyuki's mother rarely was motivated to cook, so Tsukasa knew the reason for her popularity with her very well. "But she apparently noticed that Yuki-chan got happier whenever I'm there, so she was happy with me as well. She was okay with it and didn't care about the circumstances in the slightest."

"A-Although that last part was a little unnecessary…" Miyuki got a little more embarrassed. "That's how it is. In short, we received our parent's blessing without much trouble.

"I see… I see…" Hiyori was intently listening and was absorbing every single word. Nobody knew where it came from, but she was also busily taking notes on a notebook that had magically appeared out of nowhere.

"Okay, just wait a tiny minute there…" Kagami stopped Miyuki and Tsukasa with a confused expression. "Just what do you mean with how my parents were super cool with it, and you had no trouble with them?!" She couldn't believe those words after the stupid, and super unnecessary stunt her parents had pulled when she and Konata came out to them. "It wasn't the slightest bit of fun when Kona and I told them about us…"

"Ahaha…" Miyuki let out a forced laugh. "A-About that… They didn't do _that_ this time…" She didn't specify what _that_ meant, but Konata and Kagami knew she was talking about the test they had to go through to prove whether Kagami was serious with the relationship or not. "Your parents decided to not do _that_ anymore because of what happened last time… Especially your father still seems to be suffering from a small emotional trauma…"

"Ehehe~." Kagami looked happy all of a sudden. It seemed like she still bears a tiny grudge after the events of her coming out. "Dad totally earned that~."

"Calm down, Kagamin~…" Konata wasn't sure how she should feel about that reaction. Other than feeling somewhat sorry for Tadao again, that is.

"Oho, that sounds like a fascinating story. This Hiyori here demands to hear the details. All the details!" Hiyori being Hiyori, she naturally was interested in it.

"No." Miyuki, Tsukasa, and Konata were all in perfect synch.

"I'm sorry, Hiyori. It's an old Hiiragi family tradition, and you need to be a part of it to hear about it. Well, it now looks like it's a retired tradition, but still." Kagami wanted to keep it a secret, for various reasons.

"Aww, too bad. Well, there's nothing I can do if I have to be a _part_ of the Hiiragi family first~." It wasn't what Hiyori wanted to hear, but she was super happy with it anyway. "So, when's the wedding ceremony then, Kagami-senpai~?" Yes, she was having a very good time.

"Hmm… Shut up." Nobody, not even Konata or Hiyori said anything about the slight pause Kagami made before saying something.

Because the topic was getting a little stale for everyone, except maybe Hiyori, the others decided it was time for something new. The girls chatted about some ordinary, everyday kind of things for a while until the focus shifted to the first years this time. Or rather, soon to be second years and their plans for the future.

"Okay, now that I think about it, the four of us told you a lot of things… What about you guys? What are your plans for the next year, my dear soon to be second-year students~." Konata was a little interested in them.

"Oh, that's easy." Yutaka started. "I want to further improve my health. I think I got a little less sickly during the past year, but there's still a lot of room for improvement."

"I'll help you with that, Yutaka-chan." Minami suddenly became lively. "I hope we can do lots of fun things together as well this year. I'll improve your health for sure."

"Okay, thank you very much, Minami-chan."

"It's my pleasure." Minami and Yutaka happily smiled at each other.

"Hnng…" Hiyori bit her lip to hold herself back because their interaction was too much for her, but because she still needed to fix her broken yuri radar, she couldn't trust anything anymore.

"What about you, Hiyorin?" While Konata was having fun seeing her agonizing over them, she was still interested in her plan.

"Hmm… I'll continue to give my all for my mangas, especially my serialized one~." She was very proud of that. "Two chapters of it are already out, and it's way more popular than I ever could've dreamed. I also work together with Sojiro-sensei a lot, and we're having a ton of fun talking about _various_ things together."

"…" Konata was having slight troubles hearing her father getting addressed as _-sensei_. She wasn't surprised that the two were getting along like a house on fire, though. The two were like-minded perverts with similar interests after all. Whether this was a good thing or not was a completely different topic.

Once everyone had shared their plans for the future, the girls chatted about random stuff again while having dinner together. The food was prepared beforehand by Minami, Yutaka, and Hiyori as a part of their graduation party for their upperclassman. After having finished eating, and while still chatting about this and that, Kagami had suddenly remembered an idea she and Konata had a while back in Yokohama.

"Ah, before I forget it again… Kona and I found a nice place for flower viewing in Yokohama and wanted to invite all of you for it. Are you interested in that? We also wanted to show you our new, finished home to everyone and would be happy if you could come."

"Ah, good idea, Kagamin~, I totally forgot about that already."

"I'm so in!" Hiyori instantly agreed to the idea. She absolutely wanted to see their new apartment, for various reasons, of course. The flower viewing was just a nice bonus for her.

"Of course, I really want to see your new home, Konata-oneechan." Yutaka liked the idea as well.

"Flower viewing in a different city sounds nice." Minami, not being overly interested in the couple's apartment was the first to appreciate the flower viewing.

"Yes, that sounds lovely." Miyuki had no preference in the matter.

"I… want to see onee-san's and Konata-san's finished apartment as well…" Tsukasa still was unable to talk with them normally, but her curiosity got the better of her.

"…" Konata absolutely hated how Tsukasa was addressing her, but there was nothing she could do about it at the moment.

"That's great…" Kagami was happy that everyone agreed to the idea, but she, too, was sad about the situation with her sister. "What would be the best time for it, though? Even though Kona is still complaining here and there, it had gotten warm rather early this year, and I think the cherry blossom trees will already be in full bloom in around two to three weeks. I actually saw a few trees blooming here and there already.

"Yes, the flowers seem to be blooming early this year as well." Miyuki agreed with her evaluation.

"How about it, everyone? Are you all free on the weekend in two or three weeks, depending on how the weather is?" Kagami suggested a date, and none of them had a problem with it.

"You all also can sleep over if you want. We would need a few more futons, but we should have enough room for everyone. Think about it and tell us if you want to." Konata also had a detail to add.

The girls planned some more things around the flower viewing, and the graduation party, that ended up being more or a less an ordinary get-together their group always has, eventually came to an end afterward.

Yutaka and Hiyori stayed at Minami's place to help with the cleaning, and the other girls went home. That's how it was supposed to be at least, but Konata, Kagami, and Tsukasa all went to Miyuki's place after saying goodbye at their graduation party.

…..

Konata and Kagami held back all day, but they were dying to know what happened to Miyuki because of her sudden change. She did something rather surprising today after all.

The group went to Miyuki's room, and she started explaining what exactly happened.

"I'm certain you were surprised earlier. It wasn't very like me, was it?"

"Yeah, you could say that…" If anything, Kagami thought this was a considerable understatement.

"Yes… Okay, where should I begin…" She thought of a way to tell them. "You and Konata-san made it clear a while back that hiding our relationship to family and friends would end up with us being frustrated or maybe even hurt eventually. As expected, you two were absolutely right. It really wasn't a good experience, and I wanted to change. Especially because a certain, not further mentioned couple made us so jealous that Tsukasa-san and I couldn't bear it any longer." Miyuki didn't say any names, but the couple in question perfectly knew who she meant.

"Ahaha…" Konata and Kagami felt somewhat responsible.

"Tsukasa-san and I were fed up with the secrets and wanted to come out for a while already now… Last week, when we visited the two of you in Yokohama, it simply became too much to bear with. Tsukasa-san was openly jealous about you getting to live together, but I actually wasn't much different, to be honest. I was just able to hide it better, but I, too, thought that it was really unfair. I wanted our relationship, even just slightly, more like yours, Konata-san and Kagami-san. In Yokohama, after seeing how happy you two are, I decided to change. I decided to be more confident and coming out was the first step in that direction." Miyuki explained the reason for her change in detail.

"That's some impressive resolve." Kagami was proud of her. She and Konata knew that the two couldn't continue like that much longer.

"Good job, Miyuki." Konata gave her a thumb up.

"I'm not sure what the future holds for the two of us, but this change was necessary. It's all thanks to our model couple over there." Miyuki looked at Konata and Kagami again. "I realized that I wanted to be more openly intimate with Tsukasa-san because the status quo was way too frustrating and depressing. In short, it was finally time to advance our relationship, and I'm delighted with how it turned out." As to further prove her point, Miyuki leaned her body against Tsukasa's shoulder and tightly gripped her hand.

"Y-Yuki-chan…" The combination of Miyuki's story, her body contact, and how she was still overly conscious of Konata and Kagami made Tsukasa somewhat embarrassed. Still, even though she was blushing, Tsukasa didn't seem to be unhappy in the slightest.

"Ah~, to be young and in love~." Konata couldn't hold back with her teasing.

"Youth, huh~?" Kagami also had her share of fun.

"Yes, that's youth. So sweet~."

"Ko-Kona-cha… Ah! Ahem, Konata-san!" She was so embarrassed that Tsukasa almost forgot that she was still putting some distance between her and the couple.

"What was that? Please repeat it, Tsukasa." Konata was super happy that she had almost addressed her in the old way again because she was really suffering from the current treatment.

"…" Tsukasa suddenly turned completely silent.

"Okay… I'll wait a little longer for it…" Konata was disappointed and sad, but she had to bear with it.

"…" She looked at her with an apologetic gaze, but still couldn't say a word.

Because the mood had taken a sudden turn for the worse, and Konata and Kagami had heard everything they wanted to from Miyuki, the two decided to leave her home and headed back. The two are going to be extremely busy tomorrow anyway with their moving to Yokohama, so it was a good idea not to stay outside for too long in the first place.

With the day being over and having successfully graduated from high school, one chapter of their lives was over, and a new, surely much more exciting chapter was about to begin the day after.

* * *

…..

Last update took 3 months, this one about 2 weeks. Am I consistent or am I consistent?

I guess their graduation was a little anticlimactic, but I guess that fits the Lucky Star universe quite well. In the manga, it also just kind of happened, but wasn't overly addressed and changed absolutely nothing (Not that I'm very faithful to the source material anyway). I wanted to make the part with Kuroi-sensei a little emotional because she's an important person for Konata, but I'm not whether it just ended up being super cringy instead or not…

Also, poor Tsukasa for being traumatized (until she learns to love it, that is). But she also made some good progress with Miyuki, so it's not all bad. Aggressive Miyuki is rather awesome.

I'm not sure what I'm going to in the next chapter yet. I'll either let Konata and Kagami meet up with Mio and Naomi or do the here mentioned flower viewing with everyone. I'll decide that on a whim (like most of the other stuff already). I'll probably/maybe do some more centered around Miyuki and Tsukasa for their anniversary, but I'm not sure about that yet because I enjoy writing about Konata and Kagami much more…


	53. New friends

The girls had successfully graduated from High School, and Konata and Kagami moved to Yokohama to attend their dream college in a few weeks. Their furniture was already long assembled, and today, both arrived with their belongings they still had in their old homes, like clothing and various everyday necessities. Not to mention stuff like Konata's manga or Kagami's Light Novels.

The couple's parents had offered their help after transporting the stuff to Yokohama, but the two wanted to unpack and arrange the apartment on their own.

Unpacking their clothes and toiletries and stowing them away wasn't a big task and was quickly dealt with. The two's manga and Light Novels also only let to one insignificant problem, but after having a short discussion of who gets how much place on the shelves in Konata's otaku room, this topic was over as well. After some more organizing of various stuff, things were slowly becoming complicated.

The last time they were here, Kagami went shopping for accessories and decorations with Tsukasa to put in their apartment. Konata was looking at precisely those right now because they were carefully stowed away until now.

"Okay, let's decorate our apartment… right?" Konata didn't sound overly motivated.

"Yes… We should make it look nice here…" It's not like Konata and Kagami didn't want to decorate their home, but they still had no idea how.

"Let's just put it at random places and see how it… works?" Konata had a sloppy idea, but it was at least something.

"Yeah… Let's do that." Kagami had no better idea, either.

They put some photos and vases on the drawers in the hallway, decorated the walls with some framed prints, and placed some weird looking accessories that Tsukasa had chosen for them here and there.

"I guess that works, huh…?" The two were in the hallway again while Konata was looking around.

"Yes, it looks nice… I think…" Kagami looked around as well and nodded. "I guess we can keep it like that until Tsukasa revisits us and tells us how we really should decorate our apartment." Not only had the two no idea how to properly decorate a home, but they also hadn't the most significant interest in doing it right in the first place.

"…" Konata instantly looked gloomy the moment she heard Tsukasa's name.

"I'm sorry…" Kagami regretted mentioning her little sister. "It'll be fine, Kona. It'll go back to normal soon enough. I'm sure she still loves us. Ah, maybe once she gets more intimate with Miyuki, she'll understand the videos. It shouldn't take too long now, after what Miyuki did for their relationship yesterday."

"Those stupid videos… If only things like that didn't exist…"

"Yeah… That's true… Want to watch some more later?"

"Of course!" Konata thought the videos were stupid because they ruined her relationship with Tsukasa, but that didn't mean she doesn't love them for other reasons.

"Okay~." Kagami had successfully changed the topic, and also found an activity for the evening.

"Ehehe~." Konata was feeling better. "Ah, wait a moment!" She suddenly disappeared into their bedroom before quickly coming back with a framed picture and carefully placed it on the drawer in the hallway, right in the middle between the other decorations. "Yes, it looks very nice here~." She was looking at the frame with a sweet smile. It was showing the picture their friends had secretly taken almost two years ago during their flower-viewing back then. The where Konata was peacefully sleeping under a big cherry blossom tree while Kagami was happily napping on her shoulder before they started dating. The picture was framed in a light pink, glass frame that was decorated with a few hearts and roses.

"Aww…" Kagami was touched. Not only was it a very important picture for her because it captured the exact moment where she fell in love with Konata, the picture, including the frame was her Christmas present for Konata. "You sure know how to score points with me, Kona."

"I'm good you, know~?"

"Yes, you sure are. But…" Kagami looked around, took a quick glance at their bedroom, and then focused on the picture again. "I don't think we can ever invite any of the friends over we might make in college… They'll find out about our relationship in three seconds… if they're blind…"

"Ahaha… fair point." Konata looked around as well and came to the same conclusion. "Well, that's no reason for us to hold back in our own home, right?"

"That's true. We can simply meet up at their place, and we're good." Kagami also wanted to live in their apartment as they please.

There were still some smaller details left, and maybe also some more personal decoration, but their moving to Yokohama was officially over now.

"Okay, now that the business part is dealt with, let's get to the fun part, Kagamin~."

…

The next three _days_ weren't something Kagami and Konata would, or ever could talk about with anyone. The two lived entirely on delivery food and hadn't set even one foot outside during those days. In short, the two had a ton of fun, and that kind of fun happened at least once in every single room of their apartment. With no one able to interrupt them, whether intentional or not, Konata and Kagami had really let loose. The fourth day arrived, and the two became unable to look at any part of their apartment without feeling extremely ashamed of themselves. Because of that, the couple finally decided to leave their home to explore the city. That was their excuse for hiding their embarrassment when looking back at the past three days at least.

"Ah, finally some fresh air again~." The two were standing in front of their apartment complex, and Kagami comfortably stretched herself.

"Yeah~." Konata had the same reaction. "Man, that sure was a lot of fun~."

"T-That's true…" Kagami had mixed feelings. "We're never ever going to mention what happened during those days, okay?"

"T-That's probably a good idea…" There were now two girls that were looking slightly embarrassed in front of the building.

"Okay…" Kagami took a deep breath. "So, any idea where we should go, Kona?"

"Hmm… I think we should do some grocery shopping because another day of delivery food… Nope, I really don't want that."

"I'm absolutely with you on that." She couldn't stand that food anymore either. "Still, what should we do before that?"

"You sure are asking some hard questions, Kagamin~. Oh, how about pay a certain sweets store a visit?"

"A-Ah! I totally forgot about that! We totally have to visit the grandma right now! We still have to tell her the good news!"

"Well then, let's go."

Without making a stop somewhere, the couple directly headed over to the sweets store to chat a little with the owner.

"Welco-… My, Kagami-chan and Konata-chan, you've finally come to visit again." The grandma noticed the two entering her store and instantly began to smile. "I've missed you. The two of you took way too long to come!"

"We're sorry about that…" Kagami apologized. "We were super… busy lately, and so we hadn't found the time to visit yet." She didn't want to say she had merely forgotten.

"No, it's no problem. I take you have good news for me, then?"

"Of course we have! Just as expected, Kona and I passed the entrance test without problems, and we successfully moved here a few days ago."

"My, congratulation, you two, I'm very happy about that. To celebrate the occasion, I'll give you a lot of service later on." The grandma pointed at the sweets all around her in the store.

"Thank you very much!" Kagami's eyes were sparkling.

"Grandma, you shouldn't be able to tame Kagamin~ so easily… I'll get worried about her like that…"

"Shut up, Kona."

"Ehehe~."

"You two sure are good friends. That's nice to see." She had fun listening to their conversation.

"Of course!" The two gave a firm answer.

"Oh, I like that response. That'll give you another service later."

"Really?! Thank you very much!"

"Calm down, Kagamin~."

"Okay, let's change the topic for a bit, okay?" The grandma wanted to talk about something else all of a sudden.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Remember how I talked about my granddaughter that lives together with me? You, Kagami-chan, wanted to meet her because she attends the same college as you, right?"

"Ah, now that you mention it… Yeah, it would be really nice to talk with her and get some information and tips for our college life."

"You're in luck then. I talked with Mio-chan, my granddaughter, and she wants to meet you two as well after I talked about you with her."

"Really? That's great." Kagami was happy about it.

"She'll be happy to hear that. How does the following Friday sound? She told me that she's free there in case you came to visit me."

"Sure, Kona and I are mostly free until college starts." Their apartment was basically finished and so the couple had a lot of time on their hands.

"Great, I'll tell her then."

"Okay, I look forward to it!" Kagami really wanted to meet the girl.

"You're a tad too excited again, Kagamin~…" Konata started pouting and seemed a little jealous, but Kagami didn't take the bait.

"Anyway…" She quickly changed to the topic because, although she was happy about Konata's reaction, this was neither the right time nor place to indulge in it. "About that extra service, you mentioned earlier, grandma…" Kagami looked around with a greedy smile on her lips.

"Oh, I may have made a mistake…"

"Yes. Yes, you did, grandma…" Konata sympathized with her, but there was nothing she could do once she becomes like that.

Kagami took her by the word, and the couple left the store with an ungodly amount of various sweets and the promise to meet the granddaughter of the owner on the coming Friday.

…..

The day of their meet-up quickly arrived, and Konata and Kagami went to the sweets store again.

"Ah, welcome back, you two." The grandma cheerfully greeted them the second they entered

"We're here as promised~." Kagami was in a good mood.

"Grandma, are they here yet… Ah…" A girl with black hair and similar colored eyes peeked through the door of the room in the back, but she found the answer on her own. "Nevermind, grandma…" She noticed the couple and quickly entered the room. "Ahem, it's nice to meet you. My grandmother told me a lot of things about you, and I really wanted to meet you. My name is Aihara Mio."

"…" Kagami was unable to answer and only looked at her with a blank stare.

"Okay… Well, my name is Izumi Konata, and it's nice to meet you, too." Konata introduced herself first because Kagami seemed to be having some problems.

"Ehh…?" She finally had a reaction, faced Konata, and began whispering. "K-Kona, that's the girl I told you about! The black-haired beauty I saw when we left the store after having had our entrance tests!"

"My, thank you very much~." Mio seemed to have rather good ears. "And your name is?"

"Ah… Uhm, sorry about that…" Kagami began to blush. "I-I'm Hiiragi Kagami, and likewise, it's nice to meet you…"

"Well then, Kagami, thank you very much for the compliment."

"Y-You're welcome…" She was extremely embarrassed about her slip up.

"You're not very good at this whole first impression thing, aren't you, Kagamin~?"

"S-Shut up, Kona… That wasn't on purpose!"

"And that's exactly why it's funny~."

"Ahaha, you two sure are a funny bunch." Mio began to laugh as she listened to them. "I think it was a good first impression. Being complicated by a cute girl can't possibly a bad start~."

"Woah, she's dangerous!" Konata was impressed by her quick reaction to the situation.

"That's not the first time I heard that~." Mio gave Konata a bewitching smile.

"Wow, has anyone ever told you that your personality and looks don't match, Mio-san?" The difference was quite a surprise for Konata.

"…" Mio turned silent for the first time. "M-Maybe one or two times…"

"Talk about first impressions…" Kagami let out a sigh as she listened to Konata.

"Ah, I know that look from Kagamin~. By the way, I'm not complaining, you know? It's unexpected, but the contrast is super cool."

"Oho, both of the girls are skilled at smooth-talking, but thank you very much, Konata."

"That's my honest opinion, though…"

"Ehehe~, grandma was right." Mio had taken a liking to the two. "Oi, Naomi, will you come out already?!" She yelled towards the room in the back where she came from earlier. "Just as grandma said, the two are good girls!"

"R-Really…?" A feeble voice came from the room before a blonde-haired girl reluctantly and timidly peeked into the store. She noticed the couple and instantly disappeared again, though. A few seconds passed, and a golden flurry suddenly dashed through the room before hiding behind Mio.

"Nice entrance, Naomi, it didn't look awkward at all." Mio sarcastically rolled her eyes. "Well, I'm, already proud you came out of the room on your own without me dragging you here."

"W-What…? You wanted to do something like that, Mio-chan…?"

"Of course." She did not even try to lie. "Okay, now properly introduce yourself, Naomi."

"E-Eh?! T-There's no way I can do that! C-Can't you do that for me, Mio-chan…?"

"What do you think?" Her tone already carried the answer.

"Auu… H-How about I do that next time…?" Naomi tried her best to talk her out of it. "I-I already showed up… T-That should be enough for today…"

"Na-o-mi~."

"F-Fine… I really should've bought more cosplay for you last week… It's not nearly enough…" While mumbling the second part, Naomi gave up with a cute looking pout. "H-Hello… my name is… T-Ta- "She bit her tongue. "T-Toujou Naomi… It's… nice… to m-meet you…" While only showing her head from behind Mio's back, her voice was barely audible, but she somehow managed to introduce herself.

"Very good, Naomi." Mio wanted to pat her head as a reward, but she knew that it wasn't the right time for that.

"T-Thank you…" Naomi really wanted the pat, but understood it.

"She's a bit shy, isn't she…?" Kagami wanted to break the ice.

"Juuust a little…" Mio nodded in agreement.

"Wait, what?!" Konata's first words after the introduction were odd. "S-She's…!" She pointed at Naomi and faced Kagami with a shocked expression. "That's her, Kagamin~! That's the cosplay girl from the anime store I told you about!" She naturally recognized her again.

"Eeek!" Being scared and startled by Konata's sudden action, Naomi completely hid behind Mio again while she was shivering.

"Oh…" Mio had a bad feeling about the situation. "I might've made a big mistake…" Konata's pointing at Naomi and how she was talking to Kagami left a sour impression behind.

"Woah, seriously?! You were totally right, Kona… She really is extremely cute! Not to mention beautiful."

"E-Eh?!" Naomi was so surprised that the shivering stopped, and she even forgot to hide behind Mio.

"Haa…" Mio let out a relieved sigh. It seems like it all was just a big misunderstanding on their side.

"I can totally understand why you were interested in her." Kagami looked at Naomi again and gave a big nod. "She's even cuter than you described."

"Y-You were interested in… me, K-Konata-san…?" Naomi couldn't believe those words.

"Ehm… of course…?"

"You two aren't scared or intimidated by her looks? Maybe even put off?"

"…?" Kagami and Konata were looking at Mio like they were talking to a complete idiot. "What…?"

"I see." Mio was more than happy.

"Why would we? She looks super nice and interesting, and not scary or intimidating… Is there something wrong with your eyes, Mio-san?" Konata had not even the slightest idea what she was talking about.

"Yes!" Kagami agreed with her. "If anything, I just hate Naomi-san a little bit because she's way too cute, but that's a good thing." She was jealous.

"Y-You two…" Mio noticed that the two were entirely serious and was now resisting the urge to hug them.

"Really…? You aren't…" Naomi was still scared from talking with the couple, but she looked a tiny bit more secure now.

"Well then, let's go to the room in the back and have a nice, long chat~." Mio was in an excellent mood after hearing the two's honest opinion of Naomi and guided them out of the store.

….

The group entered the room and continued the chatting after sitting down at the table there.

"Okay, I just have to ask now…" Konata was interested in something for a while already. "Mio-san, how did you get to know Naomi-san? Is she on a homestay at your place? With her being foreign and all…"

"Auu…" Naomi shrunk down on her place.

"Ahaha… Naomi's not really a foreigner. She's born in Japan after all."

"Ah, so she's a halvsie then?"

"Well, more or less… Her mother's from England and her father… Uhm, how was it with your father again, Naomi?" She wanted to integrate her in the conversation.

"E-Eh?!" She didn't expect to be suddenly asked something. "D-Daddy… Daddy's father was half English as well, so… Daddy's a quarter English…"

"Ah, right! In short, Naomi's… ehm, 5/8 English, I guess. But, she's Japanese because she's born and grown up here."

"Heh~, that's super cool."

"Yes, that's absolutely right~." Mio was pleased with her answer and Konata was rapidly gaining points in her book."

"Okay, then how did you two get to know each other? I don't want to be rude or anything… but your looks… and more importantly, personalities seem to be polar opposites after all…" Konata wanted to know how the two became friends.

"That's a very accurate description of the two of us." Mio couldn't say anything about her evaluation. "Naomi and I are, more or less, the very depiction of childhood friends and that's why it didn't matter how much of an odd combination we are on the surface. Our parents knew each other long before our birth and two of us were born just three weeks apart."

"Woah, how awesome is that?!" Konata had always had a sweet spot for childhood friends in anime, manga, and games.

"Hehe, it sure is~." Mio's opinion of Konata continued to rise. "Okay, it's my turn now. I want to know more about the two of you, too."

"Uh… sure…" Konata hesitated for a moment because she obviously couldn't tell her everything that's going on between her and Kagami. "Anything specific?"

"Hmm… Well, let's start with how you two got to know each other as well for starters?"

"It's not particularly interesting though…" Kagami took over the explanation from here because she didn't trust Konata with staying silent about their relationship. "We met each other at the beginning of our first year in High School. My twin sister was in the same class as Kona, and she introduced her to me after a while."

"Heh~, so you have a twin? Are you two much alike?" Twins aren't that common, so Mio was a little interested in the topic.

"Not really, but that's because we're fraternal twins. We look a little alike, but that's all."

"Yeah, their personalities are the complete opposites…" Konata couldn't stay silent on the topic. "Tsukasa, that's her sister, is super gentle, innocent, honest, and nice… Not to mention a good cook, and…"

"Kona?"

"Yes?"

"Shut up."

"Okay~."

"Haha, you two sure are good friends." Mio was enjoying their little bantering again.

"Best friends~." Konata managed to hold back.

"Grandma told me that you're going to attend the college here together. How did it come to that?"

"Well, I dreamed to be a lawyer ever since I was little, and I have wanted to attend the college here since the moment I found out about it."

"Yeah, the law course here is rather famous for being good."

"Yes. Kona took an interest in marketing last year, and so she ended up going for the business course."

"I see… and that's also why you two decided to live together?" Mio finally came to her main point of interest.

"You know about that, too?"

"Yep, grandma is a very chatty person."

"Yeah, I noticed that already. Going to the same college was the main reason we decided to live together. We thought it would be more fun to live together with a friend." Friends and fun were very broad words, so Kagami wasn't necessarily lying. "Our parents also like the idea because living together with a person you know and trust, would make living in a different city much easier and more importantly, more secure." She managed to explain their situation without letting some details slip out.

"Mh-hmm, that makes sense." Mio nodded after hearing the story. "How is your apartment? How many rooms?" She wasn't done yet with the topic.

"Hmm… Excluding the kitchen, bathroom, and stuff… Three rooms… No, depending on how you count, it's actually four." Kagami wasn't sure whether the Japanese room was part of the living room or a room on its own.

"Oh, it's quite big, huh?" Mio sounded disappointed. She had hoped a little that the two were living in a small, preferably one-room apartment because that would help her to find out whether Konata and Kagami are a couple or not. With an apartment this big, there was no way how close the two actually are.

"Yeah, it's super nice. A much smaller apartment would've worked as well, but I'm surely not going to complain." Kagami forgot about the part where she actually complained a lot about it when Konata showed her the apartment the first time.

"I see~." Mio's mood improved again because it sounded like the two wouldn't have needed this much rooms. "Hmm…" In her fantasy, she was hoping that Konata and Kagami were actually sharing a bedroom, but she naturally couldn't ask about that out of the blue. Mio would love to visit their apartment, but that's not something you could ask a basically stranger on their first meet-up. It would sound super weird after all.

"Uhm…" Kagami wanted to say something. "Can I ask you a couple questions about the college, Mio-san? Your grandmother told me that you're attending it as well, and I'm really interested in hearing some first-hand experience."

"Hmm, sure… but I don't think there's much I can tell you, though. I'm studying computer science there, and that's obviously a completely different department on the campus. I haven't heard anything negative about the law department, though. The facilities on the campus grounds itself are really nice, modern, and clean, so it's all green on that front. Oh, and the food in the cafeteria is super delicious and not expensive at all. You just have to remember to get there early if you don't want to wait forever because it's super popular. Other than that… I don't know what else I could tell you…"

"No, don't worry, that's already plenty useful information. Thank you very much."

"No problem. Ah, now that I think about it, Naomi could help Konata, though. She's studying business management, and that's in the same department as Konata's marketing, and so there are a lot of shared mandatory courses." Mio wanted to get Naomi included in the conversation again because she had become silent again.

"H-Huh?!" She was surprised by the sudden involvement.

"Really? Kagami, and naturally Konata as well focused their attention on Naomi now.

"Uhh…" She wasn't good at getting attention. With tears in the corner of her eyes, Naomi tried to hide behind Mio while slightly trembling again.

"Ahaha…" Mio forced a laugh. "Please excuse her. It's nothing personal, she's just not good at dealing with new people as she's extremely shy."

"It's fine, everyone has their quirks." Kagami didn't want to make a big deal about it.

"The whole incident in the anime store is making more and more sense now." Konata began to understand why Naomi had such a hard time talking with her and even ran away in the end. Still, there was something to her that Konata really wanted to befriend Naomi. Now more than ever. "Mio-san, there's something I want to try, can I?" She pointed at the frightened girl clinging to her.

"Sure, go ahead, but I don't think you'll get her to talk in this state."

"I think I have an idea that could work, but I think I have to apologize to you beforehand, Mio-san…" Konata looked a little conflicted about her plan. "I'm sorry about what's going to happen…"

"Huh…" She was confused.

"Naomi-san?"

"…" There was naturally no reaction.

"You're interested in cosplay, right? I would love to discuss a few topics with you."

"!?" She reacted with a noticeable twitch.

"You know, I think I have some great ideas that would fit _Mio-san_ really well. She has a great figure that would work with a lot of things." Konata had figured her out already.

"K-Kona!" Kagami hadn't expected this and got angry because of her shamelessness.

"E-Eh?" Mio began to understand why she apologized beforehand.

"F-For example…?" Her interest was piqued. Naomi timidly let go of Mio and looked at Konata with a faint sparkle in her eyes.

"S-Seriously?!" Mio was shocked that Konata's plan actually worked so well. At the same time, she also facepalmed because she had a distinct feeling that the topic is going to make her suffer.

"Hmm…" Konata checked out Mio again before continuing. "The most prominent choice would be Mio from K-On! The look fits quite well, and even the name is the same."

"That much is obvious!" Naomi became lively in a matter of seconds. "Mio-chan cosplaying as… well, Mio was one of the first things I made her do."

"Heh~." Konata sent a playful smirk towards Mio.

"Auu…" Mio was the one feeling shy now, and Kagami gave her a knowing look of sympathy.

"I have two different school uniforms of K-On for Mio-chan already!" She looked proud for some reason.

"As expected, you have a great taste, Naomi-san."

"Ehehe~." She was happy to be praised.

"Yeah, the school uniform of K-On is pretty nice, but what about the outfits Mio's wearing in the music videos of the band. They all look really good if you ask me."

"AH!" Naomi let out a loud gasp. "T-That's…! I totally forgot about the music videos of K-On! Thank you very much for the idea, Konata-san!"

"You're welcome. Especially the one…" Konata and Naomi continued to have a lively discussion.

"Ehm… Mio-san…?" Kagami looked confused.

"Y-Yes…?"

"What was that about Naomi-san being super shy and bad with strangers?"

"I'm sorry… I've known Naomi for almost 20 years now, but I have no idea what's going on right now…" Mio was the most surprised of them all. Not even in her wildest dream had she imagined such a scenario.

"Ah, Konata-san, have you ever heard about Vocaloid?" Naomi took a short glance at Kagami before focusing on Konata again.

"Oh-oh…" Kagami suddenly had a bad feeling.

"Heh~." Konata made another smirk. "Of course I have, and yes, Kagamin~ makes a perfect Hatsune Miku~." She had noticed Naomi's glance.

"Auu…" Kagami had the same reaction as Mio earlier as she got roped into it as well.

"As expected, I knew it!" Naomi looked quite smug. "Does that mean you make her cosplay as well, Konata-san?"

"Hmm… In the beginning, yes, I had forced her just a little~, but now, she actually loves it as much as I do~." Konata fondly remembered the memory where she had replaced Kagami's clothes with a cosplay of Hatsune Miku while she was taking a bath.

"H-Hey!" Kagami tried to protest that she likes to cosplay now, but wasn't overly persuasive because she couldn't even convince herself of the claim.

"How nice! Mio-chan still complains every time I buy her new cosplay…"

"Ah, Kagamin~ also complains all the time, but you can easily notice how happy she actually is. Well, she thinks she can hide it, but she really can't, though. Oh, maybe it's the same with Mio-san?"

"W-What?!" Naomi instantly looked at her partner. "I-Is that true, Mio-chan?! Is you scolding me all the time really just a trick to hide it?!"

"N-No comment."

"Hmm…" Naomi wasn't convinced, but quickly came back to the topic because it was more important right now. "Do you cosplay as well, Konata-san?"

"Not really… Kagamin~'s the only one."

"You really should try it together! I recently cosplayed together with Mio-chan, and it was sooo much more fun!"

"Really? I see… it's worth a try. It's not like I haven't thought about it before. Kagamin~, we're going shopping tomorrow!" Konata didn't waste any time.

"Please tell me how it was!"

"Of course~."

"Haa…" While the two continued their energetic discussion about cosplay, Kagami let out a strained sigh. She wasn't sure whether she was a fan of this newly formed friendship or not.

"Looks like you have it rough as well, huh, Kagami?" Mio was sympathizing with her.

"Oh, you have no idea…"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that…" Mio's eyes looked into the far distance without focusing on anything.

"Haa…" The two shared another sigh. While Kagami and Mio began to bond over their shared misfortune and suffering, both decided to get to know each other a little better as well in the form of some small-talk while the other two were still busy with their discussion.

"So, what are your hobbies, Mio-san?" She couldn't think of anything better on the spot.

"Other than being kept busy by Naomi? Let me think…" Naomi filled like 90% of her private life. "I'm a little technic-nerd, that's also why I'm studying computer science. What else…"

"Hmm…" Kagami had a complicated expression.

"Yes… I know that I really don't look the part. You're not the first one who gave me this look. It's nothing hardcore, though, so don't worry."

"I'm sorry…"

"Don't mind it. Oh, I also love to laze around and spend the entire day reading if a certain someone lets me…"

"R-Really?! What kind of stuff do you read, Mio-san?" Kagami's eyes began to sparkle.

"Nothing specific, basically anything that catches my interest really. From the sound of it, do you happen to like reading as well, Kagami?" Mio had noticed the excited tone in her voice.

"Y-Yes… I'm a big fan of Light Novels. I especially enjoy reading those with a fantasy or adventure setting."

"Oho, I had a lot of fun with those, too."

"What stories have you read before, Mio-san?" Having found a kindred spirit, Kagami became quite energetic herself and wanted to talk about it.

"Let's see…" Mio thought about the latest novels she read and shared them with Kagami.

The two started a heated-up discussion on their own, and they had their fair share of fun as well. Both of them were even able to exchange some recommendations while talking about their favorite novels.

It soon began to crystallize who of the two couples were becoming best friends with whom in the near future.

Quite some time passed, and Konata and Naomi's discussion about cosplay was slowly coming to an end. As it turned out, the two were having a very similar, and, more importantly, _interesting_ taste. Thanks to that, Mio and Kagami were pretty worried about their own future well-being.

"Ah~, so many new ideas I'll have Kagamin~ to try." Konata had a satisfied expression on her face.

"Mh-hm~." Naomi, too, seemed to be happy. "I can't wait for Mio-chan to try it either~."

"Haa…" The two girls in question weren't quite as enthusiastic about it. While sighing, Mio leaned over to Naomi and began to whisper something.

"Good job, Naomi. It seems like you're having a lot of fun with Konata." Even though it earned her a lot of misfortune, she was proud of her.

"H-Huh…?! W-What do you mean?" Naomi instantly became shy and flustered the moment she snapped back to reality. It seemed like her whole excitement during the conversation with Konata happened unconsciously. "A-Auu…" Her whole face was red. "I-I didn't mean to…"

"No, it's a good thing, Naomi. It's nice to talk about something you like with a friend that has the same interest, right?"

"…F-Friend?" Naomi had not yet realized that she already had befriended Konata.

"Good grief… Well, today already has been far more successful than I had thought it would be, so I'll let it be for today…" Her opening up to Konata so much was already something she couldn't have imagined.

"…" She went entirely silent because it was too much for her to take in.

Mio, Konata, and Kagami chatted for a while longer, but Naomi didn't say any word anymore and became completely reserved again. She overexerted herself a little during the conversation with Konata.

Before leaving, the girls decided to exchange mail addresses with each other for staying in contact. Naomi only hesitantly shared hers with Konata, though, and only after she promised her to exchange lots of cosplay stuff. Kagami didn't manage to get her address just yet. After having promised to meet up again, the girls said goodbye to each other, and Konata and Kagami left once they bought a ton of sweets on their way out, and headed home.

…..

Mio and Naomi stayed behind and began talking about the couple once they were gone.

"Haha, those two sure were some interesting girls~." Mio had fun during their meet-up.

"Y-Yeah…" Naomi finally said something again after they were alone now.

"I like that Kagami girl. Talking with her about books was nice. I kind of want to go to the bookstore now and get some of her recommendations. About Konata…" She looked conflicted about her. "I don't dislike her, surely not, but I have the feeling she could be dangerous… For me… I think she has way too many cosplay ideas for you, Naomi."

"Yes." She had a big smile on her lips. "She really has~."

"What about you, Naomi? What do you think about Konata? My selfish concern aside, she seemed to be a nice girl. Not to mention how I've never seen you this happy with a stranger before."

"T-That's…!" She started to panic. "I-It's not what you think it is! I-I was just so absorbed in discussing cosplay that I forgot about everything around me. I-it's not like I had fun with Konata-san herself!" Because Naomi had no idea how to react, she accidentally ended up acting like a full-blown tsundere.

"Ahaha~, what was that? Stop being so adorable, or I won't be able to hold back anymore." Mio never saw her behaving like that before, so it was a fresh experience.

"M-Mio-chan!" She just got more embarrassed. "I-It's the truth, okay?! Don't look at me and b-believe me already!" Her _condition_ got worse.

"Yes, yes, okay, I get it~. So you wouldn't mind if we don't meet the two again, right?"

"W-What?!" Her face looked like the very definition of despair. "T-That's too early to decide, isn't it?! Y-You also like Kagami-san, right? I would feel bad if you had to hold back for me…"

"Wow…" Mio didn't know how to react to that. "Although that side of yours is pretty cute, Naomi, why don't you just admit you enjoyed the time spent together with Konata?"

"Never!"

"Were you always this stubborn?"

"Yes!"

"Ah, I see… Well, I already know you had fun, so might as well be honest, you know?"

"L-Like I said, Mio-chan… Okay, fine…" Naomi finally gave up. She had enough with putting up a front as well after all. Playing tsundere was totally unlike her and too tiring. "Yes… talking with Konata-san about cosplay was fun. I really want to do it again… So… not meeting up with her again wouldn't be… nice at all…"

"It's nice finding new friends, isn't it?"

"I-I wouldn't go that far…" Naomi wasn't convinced that she and Konata had become friends already. "M-Maybe in the future, but now… a f-friend… I don't know…" She began to fidget because she had no experience in finding friends.

"Oh my god, why are you so adorable?!" Mio finally couldn't hold back anymore and embraced her while gently patting the head of the nervously fidgeting girl.

"Ehehe~." It wasn't overly hard to please her.

"I'm so happy for you, Naomi. It's such a nice outcome. Ah, how about you try talking about something other than cosplay with Konata next time? Maybe some normal girls talk, or…"

"Nope, not happening." Naomi instantly rejected her with a calm, yet firm voice.

"Okay… maybe not…"

"Yes, that's definitely impossible!"

"W-Well… Baby steps… Taking it easy at a slow pace is still better than nothing." Mio understood that pushing the issue was no use when she's that resolute. "As long as you're willing to see her again in the future, I'm more than happy already."

"That's fine~."

"Hehe, well, I want to see Kagami again, too. I want to hear some more recommendations and discuss some more books~."

"Mio-chan also had fun, huh?"

"Yes." She nodded in agreement. "There's that, and I still want to find out whether the two are an actual couple or not…"

"What do you think after having met them now, Mio-chan? I haven't paid any attention to that whatsoever, so I don't know at all."

"Yeah, no wonder when you were so happily chatting with Konata."

"Auu…"

"Well, I'm not sure…" She wasn't certain about her theory. "It's definitely not impossible, though. I somehow feel like the two are kind of giving off a similar feeling as us, don't you think so, too?"

"Hmm… Konata-san _did_ seem to be rather fond of Kagami-san. Just like me, she enjoys her cosplaying for her after all, and she also seemed to be super happy whenever she talked about Kagami-san… She smiled, even more, every time she mentioned her name."

"My, aren't you observant of your new friend~?" She couldn't help the teasing.

"M-Mio-chan!"

"Ahaha~. Okay, I'll try my best to get some more proof out of them the next time we see each other."

"Don't overdo it, though, Mio-can. Not that they get suspicious about us in the end."

"That's a good point. I'll try to be subtle with my research. I think it's fine for them to know if they're together as well, but it would be terrible if they aren't."

While the two continued to talk about Konata and Kagami, the couple in question had a very similar conversation.

…..

"Well, that was an interesting afternoon."

"You can say that, Kona. Still, I can't believe how small the world is. How high were the chances that the black-haired girl I saw in the store actually ended up being the granddaughter of the sweets store grandma?"

"Yeah, that was pretty surprising. But, I think Naomi-san was even more surprising. The cosplay loving pseudo-foreigner girl I only saw once, was actually the childhood friend of your girl…"

"Looks like we were lucky, huh?" The two wanted to befriend those two unknown girls because they seemed to be interesting, but they had no idea how they could even find them in the first place, so the result of today was astonishing.

"Absolutely! I was super happy that I got to see her again. Talking about cosplay with Naomi-san was really fun, and I got lots of inspiration for my Kagamin~ to try."

"Great…" Kagami wasn't quite as happy about it. "I think you two got a little _too_ along for my liking… Did you really to mention that I cosplay for you?"

"It's fine, isn't it?" Konata didn't see the problem. "Naomi-san and Mio-san are doing the same after all."

"W-Well…" She had no argument against that. "Okay, it helped with how Naomi-san opened up to you… So it's not entirely bad, I guess…"

"Ehehe~. Even so, you also had a lot of fun with Mio-san, too, hadn't you?"

"Yeah, she's an easy to talk to person. It's been a while since I could talk so much about Light Novels with someone. The only other one lately was Hiyori, but her taste is, well… She's Hiyori after all. Mio-san was a refreshing experience in that regard. I also got lots of nice recommendations~."

"Heh~, good for you, Kagamin~." Konata was happy for her because she wasn't the slightest bit interested in the topic.

"Still, that aside, I really wonder what happened to Naomi-san, though. She was way too anxious and scared for just being shy, or bad with strangers as Mio-san said."

"That's true… Maybe something happened to her in the past…?" Konata was wondering about it as well. "I have absolutely no idea what, though… She's way too cute for anyone to ever hate her…"

"It's a total mystery, isn't it? Maybe she's someday able to tell us. I really want to help her for some reason." There was something about Naomi that made Kagami want to take care of her.

"Yes!" Konata was highly motivated. "I'll do my best to make her open up more." She wanted to help her even more than Kagami.

"That's good to hear. Well then, let's get to the next topic, Kona." She still wasn't done. "What do you think about the relationship between Mio-san and Naomi-san." Kagami had the same intention as Mio. "Didn't they have a kind of similar vibe as you and I? Actually, don't you think they seem to be even more intimate and natural with each other, compared to us?"

"Hmm… Well, that are childhood friends for you." Konata hadn't put much thought into it. "It would be weirder if they weren't so comfortable around each other after being together since they were born if you ask me."

"If you say it like that… But, I have the feeling there might be more to it."

"Oh my, Kagamin~ is shipping someone~."

"Shut up!"

"But no, I don't think so…" Konata didn't agree with her implication. "That's super unlikely. Trust me, if manga and anime taught me one thing, it's that childhood friends basically NEVER end up being together. As regrettable as it is because I'm always rooting for the poor childhood friend, it's the rule that they lose."

"Hmm…" Kagami wasn't convinced by her argumentation. "I think I'll try to gather more hint regardless. Wouldn't it be awesome if our new, maybe future best friends in Yokohama end up with preferring girls as well? We wouldn't need to hold back around them or hiding the whole thing in the first place. We could even occasionally advice or just talk about things we can't talk about with others…"

"Yeah, it would be great…" Konata shared her sentiment. "We also could invite them to our apartment without having to worry about getting found out because it would happen in no time at all." The two weren't hiding the true nature of their relationship inside their home after all.

"Yeah, our apartment basically screams that we're a couple… Ah~, it would be soo nice…"

"Well, maybe childhood friends can end up together in real life? That would be beyond awesome…" Konata was less optimistic, but also hoped for it.

While the couple continued to talk about Mio and Naomi, while looking forward to their next meet-up, the two eventually arrived at their apartment. Finally being home again, and alone on top of that, it didn't take long before they opted for having some _fun_ together again. Konata and Kagami were already long convinced that living on their own was the absolute best.

Unaware of just how similar the two couples were in their interest in each other, the inevitable revelation of it will be saved for another time.

* * *

….

The 400k words have actually fallen… (Well, there's always a ton of my rambling at the end of the chapters, so the actual number _might_ be a _bit_ smaller…) I never thought it would become THIS long, and it's still not over…

The chapter came out so fast because I decided doing one with Mio and Naomi in it. I have so much stuff ready for them that I couldn't hold myself back.

Well, our couple finally moved out and in their new home and properly _settled down_ there (Wow, that word is so unfitting). Remember, getting your first own apartment can be really exciting, in various ways.

The couples have finally met each other, and they're off to a good start. They still need to get to know each other better (especially some _secrets_ ), but then nobody will be able to stop them anymore.

Is it just me or did Naomi ended up being waaay too cute in this chapter? I just wrote away and almost vomited pure sugar twice… The gap in her shyness/anxiousness and how she gets easily excited was so adorable…

Anyway, next chapter is probably going to be about the last chapter's mentioned flower viewing with the couple's _old_ , but still relevant friends. Because I first have to think about what to write, it's definitely going to take a little longer this time.


	54. New city, same old flower viewing

The month March was nearing its end it was surprisingly warm already, perfect weather for a flower viewing. There was still a week left until college will start and about two weeks had passed since Konata and Kagami first met up with Mio and Naomi. During these weeks, the couple got reasonably used to Yokohama already and found many more interesting and useful places, mainly to their new friends who told them about them, thanks to being native to the city. The four also met up a few more times, and the girls got a little closer. Naomi was still really shy and reserved towards Kagami, but was really hitting it off with Konata, at least when it came to anime and cosplay, much to the displeasure of the two other girls. Especially their secret exchanges of recommended cosplay for their respective partners caused Kagami and Naomi to worry a lot, mainly about their own dignity, that is.

Today, being the day of the planned flower viewing, Miyuki, Tsukasa, Yutaka, Minami, and Hiyori came over to Yokohama to visit the couple. The girls arrived at the two's apartment and were warmly received. After exchanging some obligatory greeting, Yutaka, Minami, and especially Hiyori directly began the explore the apartment. Being the first time in Konata's and Kagami's new home, the three, even Minami, were extremely excited while roaming through the rooms. One could occasionally hear Hiyori squealing because she found many _interesting_ things. Miyuki and Tsukasa stayed with Konata and Kagami behind in the hallway at the entrance because they knew the apartment already.

"So lively~." Konata looked after the girls with a smile.

"Hiyori sure is having fun…"

"Y-Yeah…" This was the first word that Tsukasa had exchanged with the couple today. Afterward, she walked away from the entrance because she seemed to be interested in the new decoration of the apartment.

"Haa…" Konata wasn't happy with her reaction, or the lack of one.

"Still no good, huh…?" Kagami also was sad.

"Ah, she's still too embarrassed to make up with the two of you." Miyuki seemed to be informed about the situation.

"E-Eh?! What do you mean by that, Miyuki?!"

"This is about the… v-video, isn't it?" She began to blush. "The one Kagami-san accidentally sent to Tsukasa-san, right?"

"Y-You know about that?!" Kagami was shocked.

"Y-Yes… The day it happened, Tsukasa was so out of it and not herself that I questioned her so long until she told, well… showed the reason.

"I-I see…" Kagami couldn't decide whether she should turn pale or red due to the embarrassment.

"You seem to be dealing with it better, though, Miyuki." While Konata saw that she was blushing quite hard while remembering the content of the video, Miyuki was nowhere near as shaken as Tsukasa. "Were you not… shocked by it?"

"No, it was interest- Ah!" Miyuki quickly placed her hands on her mouth because of the slip of her tongue. "I-I mean… it made me a little curious abou… NO! That's not what I wanted…" She only made it worse rather than better.

"C-Calm down, Miyuki…" Konata didn't want to tease her right now.

"Y-Yeah…" Kagami wasn't sure what to say either and so decided to change the topic instead. "A-Anyway, what did you mean by that Tsukasa's still too embarrassed to make up with us?"

"Auu…" Miyuki's face was radiating so much heat that the temperature in the whole apartment was rising. "A-Ahem… Tsukasa-san stopped being shaken by the video over two weeks ago already. It's just that whenever she thinks about making up with you, she becomes too embarrassed by how awkward she acted before that and it only gets worse as time passes more and more."

"So that's how it is…" Konata was a little relieved that Tsukasa wasn't avoiding her on purpose anymore. "Do you have any idea how we can solve her problem, Miyuki?"

"Hmm… We have to make her stop feeling embarrassed about it somehow… Okay, I'll do my best to help you tow and think about something. Tsukasa-san is also suffering, so the sooner you make up, the better."

"Thank you very much, Miyuki."

"Thank you." The couple was happy that she was willing to help them.

Once the three finished talking about Tsukasa, the girl in question suddenly came back and walked right up to the couple after inspecting the decorations of their home with a very unhappy expression.

"That's no good! That's no good at all, onee-ch… s-san, Kona-san!" Tsukasa was so bothered about the deco that she almost forgot how she was currently acting around the couple. "What were you thinking when you decorated your apartment? It almost looks like you simply placed the stuff wherever it fit without thinking about proper placement!"

"A-Ahaha…" Konata and Kagami only let out a stifled laugh because that's actually exactly what they did after all.

"There's absolutely no love for detail or even a system in the placement in the first place! It looks super bad!" She was almost unreasonably mad about it.

"We're sorry…" The couple apologized for being who they are, super easygoing and without a care for things like that.

"Arrgh! This makes we want to rearrange everything!" She was way more lively than usual lately around Kagami and Konata. It almost seemed like she was acting like that on purpose, trying to act and sounding less reserved around the couple.

"It's not… _that_ bad, Tsukasa-san…" Miyuki apparently, too, didn't like it overly much, but she at least didn't want to sound so harsh. "Oh, look at that, Tsukasa-san, you can't say anything against that, can you?" She pointed at the drawer in the hallway, more specifically at the picture of Konata and Kagami comfortably napping under a cherry blossom tree in full bloom. "I think this looks really nice there."

"Ah, yeah… that one can stay…" Tsukasa calmed down after looking at the picture.

"It's already been two years since then, hasn't it?" Miyuki had a nostalgic expression while remembering the flower viewing. "So much has changed since then… By the way, now that I've seen the picture again, how were Tsukasa-san and I even be able to take that picture anyway? How to put it without sounding rude… Kagami-san, you weren't that… honest with yourself back then, weren't you? Ah, n-no, I mean, you weren't the biggest of getting intimate with Konata-san, right…?"

"That wasn't a good save, Miyuki…" Kagami wasn't impressed. "Well, it's not like I can't understand what you mean… The reason why I did that is actually kind of interesting… It happened completely subconsciously on my part, without me being able to resist whatsoever. I saw Kona peacefully sleeping there, and I simply had the overwhelming urge to do the same. I was really confused by my actions back then, not to mention the fluttery feeling I had in my stomach. I didn't notice back then, but the sight of Kona's adorable sleeping face under the tree was the moment where my heart fell in love with her. After that day, I wanted to see her more often and also wanted to get more intimate with Kona. It also became awkward more of between the two of us without ever noticing the cause of it. I, or rather we, only realized the reason for all those changes a good while later, after our brains finally caught up with our hearts…" While recalling all that, Kagami began to blush slightly, but Konata was even redder because she had to listen to all of it. "In short, you two, Miyuki and Tsukasa, managed to burn the very moment where Kona's and my romance set of forever on a picture."

"Kyaa…" Miyuki let out a rather uncharacteristic small, yet excited squeal. "T-That's such an adorable story…"

"Y-Yeah…" Even Tsukasa couldn't help it.

"I'm so happy we secretly took this picture now… I only noticed that's going on between the two of you later, so I never knew it began like that…" Miyuki had the feeling that Konata and Kagami were in love with each other long before it became official, but she didn't know it happened that early.

"Y-Yes, me too… The picture's really important to me…" Having said all that before and seeing Miyuki's reaction, Kagami became bashful.

"Ehehe~." After getting over her own embarrassment, Konata was enjoying the situation.

The four chatted for a while longer, but everyone eventually met up in the living room.

…..

"It's sooo great here!" Hiyori was a tiny bit excited. "As expected of Konata-senpai and Kagami-senpai, your new home is awesome." From her looks, it seemed like she loved their apartment for _various_ reasons.

"Thanks…" The couple didn't want to motivate her even further.

"Yes, it's charming."

"Konata-oneechan, you really found a nice place." Minami and Yutaka also had a positive impression.

Afterward, the girls packed up the stuff needed for the flower viewing and left the apartment together. After a bit of walking, the group arrived at the park the park the couple had first found when the two were in Yokohama at Christmas. Luckily, there was still an empty place under a beautiful cherry blossom tree left on this lovely day for a flower viewing.

Everyone had their own task for their party, and everything was set up in a flash. Tsukasa went all out in her usual manner and prepared a ton of very delicious looking sweets of all kind together with the help of Miyuki. Konata, with a bit of assisting of Kagami, made some _normal_ food and snacks, and also some extra sweets they got at grandma's store the day before when the two met up with Mio and Naomi again. Yutaka and Minami brought tea and various kinds of juices for everyone. Last, but not least, Hiyori took care of bringing a big blanket for everyone to sit on. On top of that, she also brought a box of interesting looking chocolate.

"Wah~, it's such a nice park! Don't you think so, too, Minami-chan?"

"Indeed. Such a beautiful speck of green in the middle of a big city really has a nice feeling, Yutaka-chan."

Everyone had a great time while eating delicious food, tasty snacks, and drink, juice, of course. The girls had a somewhat tranquil, but still fun flower viewing party until now, and the only thing that occasionally interrupted their snacking time ware the flower petals from the cherry blossom tree above them that landed on the girls and their food every now and then, but no one was actually bothered by it. Instead, it only added more to the atmosphere. Everything was peaceful until Tsukasa decided to try some of the sweets Konata and Kagami had brought to the party. The ones they got at the sweets store of Mio's grandmother. Tsukasa took a bit, and things instantly became noisy.

"Onee-chan-san!" She couldn't decide on the honorific to use.

"Y-Yes…?

"W-What are those sweets?!" She looked unbelievable serious.

"Eh…? You don't like them?"

"Nonono! They're super delicious!" Tsukasa was extremely excited about the sweets. "They're easily the most delicious Japanese sweets I ever had!"

"Ah, so that's how it is. Yeah, they really are delicious."

"Where are they from onee-chan-san?!" Here honorifics were still all over the place. "I need to know where you got those from! No, I _demand_ to know!" Sweets meant serious business for Tsukasa after all, and her eyes looked scary.

"C-Calm down a bit first, okay, sis?"

"No!" That apparently wasn't an acceptable option for her.

"Fine…" Kagami gave up, even earlier than usual because she was secretly a little happy seeing Tsukasa so energetic in front of her again. "Kona and I got those from a little store near our apartment. The owner grandma is super nice and makes all those sweets by hand."

"How far is it from here? We need to go there. NOW!" Tsukasa had no time to waste.

"Well… We almost passed the store on the way here, but it doesn't matter anyway. Because the grandma isn't the youngest anymore and is alone in the store, she occasionally closes the store for a day or two to rest and prepare. She'll open up the store the day after tomorrow again."

"N-No way…" Tsukasa wasn't merely disappointed, she was devastated. "T-That can't be…"

"Sorry about that…"

"Okay, I'll come again as soon as possible and visit the store next time!" Determination replaced her despair as she clenched her fist.

"Sure, you're welcome here anytime, sis. The owner grandma will also be happy about having another young girl that likes her sweets."

"…" Konata stayed out of the conversation and was simply over the moon that Tsukasa was opening up more and more again because there was no reservedness left in the chat with her sister. Because of that, she had opted to say nothing to not accidentally make the mood awkward again. Konata was a sensible girl that was able to read the situation after all.

"Yes! I need to get to know the maker of those sweets!"

…

Once the topic of the miracle sweets was over, Tsukasa calmed down again, and the girls continued to enjoy the flower viewing. Some time passed, and Konata seemed to be pretty busy with her phone for some reason. Because it was such an unusual sight, she used to never even carry her phone and even forgot about its existence from time to time, the girls' attention soon focused on her and the subject.

"Oh, Konata-san, have you gotten rid of your bad habit of not carrying your phone? You're using it a lot today." Even Miyuki was surprised.

"Don't tell me you got a secret second girlfriend, Konata-senpai?!" Hiyori's reaction was much more drastic. "Y-You can't do that, senpai! Texting with her right in front of Kagami-senpai is no… I'M SORRY, KAGAMI-SENPAI!" She was having fun for a second, but then noticed Kagami's glare and immediately got on her knees while apologizing furiously.

"It's just a new friend I made here in Yokohama, Hiyorin." Konata ignored the part where everyone was so shocked by her carrying a phone, or how her girlfriend had almost killed someone just now.

"Ah, so no sudden rise in popularity after moving to a new city?"

"None that I know of. Not that I would be overly interested…" While giving a halfhearted response, she focused on her phone again.

"Haa…" Kagami let out a sigh, but not because of Hiyori. She knew who Konata was exchanging emails with, and that was causing her a significant amount of stress. Ever since their meet up, Konata and Naomi occasionally exchanged some cosplay ideas for their respective _friends_. Because of that, Kagami already had to dress up as some _interesting_ characters during the past two weeks. By the way, Mio was sharing the exact same sentiment as her.

"A new friend, huh? What are they like?" Even though it wasn't a new lover, Hiyori was still interested.

"We met two girls, actually." Kagami took over the conversation because Konata couldn't be bothered. "They're quite an interesting duo. The two are the complete opposite of each other, both in look and personality, but they're still super close. Just imagine an outgoing and tall, Japanese beauty and the other one is a small and super shy foreign-looking half girl."

"Wow, that's really quite something."

"What's more, even though the two are like that, super close actually is an understatement. They're actually even more inseparable than Kona and I are."

"W-What…?" Because it was so unbelievable, Hiyori had first thought she misheard them. "What did you just say…? Like that would even be possible… Wait, don't tell me those girls are also a couple?!"

"Nah, they're childhood friends since birth." Konata explained that part herself and Hiyori's complete excitement deflated in an instant.

"Ah… I see… It's only natural that they're inseparable then…" She was super disappointed. "There's no way the two are a couple then…"

"Ehh…?" Kagami looked confused. "Is it really a rule that childhood friends can't be together as a couple? Konata said the exact same a while back…"

"Yeah…" Konata and Hiyori answered together. Both seemed to be remembering some painful memories that happened in the past, in anime, of course.

"I won't give up, though!" Kagami still really wanted Mio and Naomi to be a couple.

"Yep, neither will we…" The two had different reasons, mainly wanting their favorite ships in anime win for once.

"That'sh shooo unfair!" Tsukasa suddenly interrupted the girls' conversation. "Onee-shan aand Kona-shaan will compleeetely forgetsh me now after having maade new friendsh!" Even though there seemed to be something wrong with how she was speaking, she looked really sad and seemed about to cry as small tears formed in the corners of her eyes.

"W-What…?" The couple was utterly dumbfounded because they had no idea what was going on. The two did notice that there was something wrong with Tsukasa, but the girl simply kept going.

"It'sh already suuuper unfair how little I shaw onee-shan and Kona-shaan lately… It'sh been weeeksh shince the laast time~!" Tsukasa kept rambling in barely understandable words. "It'sh going to take even moree time between we shee each other now, ishn't it? You two are gooing to be even more bushy with your friendsh now, riight? Onee-shan and Kona-shaan will definini… definitely forgeet about me really shoon! That'sh… That'sh…" She wanted to keep going, but Konata stopped, very forceful.

"That's never ever going to happen, Tsukasa!" After loudly denying her claim, she jumped at Tsukasa and tackled her down in a crash hug on the blanket. "I'll absolutely never forget you! Ever!"

"Absolutely!" Kagami immediately jumped after her because she was feeling exactly the same as Konata. "There will always a place for you, sis!" Still ignoring that something was up with Tsukasa, the couple was happy for somehow finally having made with Tsukasa.

"Uhm…" Hiyori interrupted their sweet sisterly bonding after a while. "T-Tsukasa-senpai… by any chance, have you eaten any of the chocolate I brought with me…?"

"Yesh~, Yuki-shan gave me shome~."

"H-How many pieces…?" Sweat began to form on her forehead because she seemed to know what was going on with Tsukasa.

"Thish much~!" Tsukasa held up all her fingers on both hands with a big smile.

"I-I see… Okay…" Hiyori was already panicking and nervously looked at Miyuki, but she only gently smiled back at her while slightly tilting her head, making Hiyori even more nervous. "H-How many pieces of chocolate have you eaten, Miyuki-senpai?"

"Me? I haven't eaten any of the chocolate, you know? It was obvious that it had alcohol in it after all." She stayed calm and also seemed completely sober.

"E-Eh?! Why…?" Hiyori was too confused by her answer and couldn't understand anything anymore.

"Ahh…" The couple finally understood what was going on with Tsukasa and the two also looked at Miyuki in return.

"Why did you give the chocolate to Tsukasa then, if you knew it had alcohol in it…?" Kagami also seemed confused by her actions.

"Hmm…" Miyuki looked at Konata and Kagami, who were still hugging Tsukasa and smiled even more while giving them a small wink. "I wonder~."

"W-Wow…" The couple understood the reason after her little gesture and were surprised. Miyuki said she would help them make up with Tsukasa, but they never expected something quite like this from her.

"Uhm… Miyuki-senpai…?" Hiyori recovered a little and was directly concerned about something else she noticed. "If you hadn't any of the chocolate, why is the package completely empty already?" She was pointing at the empty boy.

"Ah, that's because it was almost empty after I got it from Yutaka-san and Minami… O-Oh…" She just realized the meaning of what she just said. After hearing her words, everyone slowly turned to look at the two girls with a terrible feeling, but what they saw wasn't in the range of their expectations. Yutaka and Minami were entirely in their own little world and didn't care about the others at all.

"Here, shay _Ahh_ , Minami-shan~." Yutaka held up some food and placed it into Minami's mouth.

"Ahhn~… You, too, Yutaka-shan~." After being fed by her, Minami promptly made the same gesture.

"Oh~, it'sh delishious!"

"Absholutely~! Here, have shome of thish, Yutakaa-shaan~."

"Ahh~… Oh, that'sh even better!"

"…" Konata, Kagami, and Miyuki were all unable to say anything, and only stared at the two with a blank look. Hiyori was also silent, but that was merely because she was too busy treating her nose that was losing blood at a concerning rate.

Yutaka and Minami continued to feed each other without a care for their surroundings while also being super touchy-feely and were overall having a great time. Thanks to that, Hiyori became quite excited for a moment, but that feeling was soon replaced by fear. She noticed that Kagami was once more glaring at her and immediately shrunk down.

"Hiyori~, just what had you planned with that chocolate?" She was smiling, but her eyes looked scary.

"I-I actually had no ulterior motives _this_ time! My father buys the chocolate occasionally, and they're actually super tasty! I just wanted everyone to try some! Nothing could possibly happen if one only eats two or maybe three pieces of it. Those events were just a _lucky_ incident! I'm not lying and say I'm happy with how it turned out, but it really wasn't my plan!" Her honest feelings were leaking out, but she seemed sincere about it being an accident.

"Is that so…?" Kagami still was a little suspicious and wanted to scold her regardless, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She looked at her sister who was currently getting pampered by Miyuki and was unable to be mad at Hiyori. It was wrong what she did, but it was also the reason why the couple was able to become close with Tsukasa again. In the end, she decided to let her go this time, and the girls passed the following time with some chatting, at least those who were still able to hold a conversation that made sense.

…

Even more time passed, and Kagami was suddenly getting some emails on her phone as well. She read the contents of them before looking at Konata.

"What's wrong, Kagamin~?" Konata didn't understand why she was looking at her.

"Mio-san just mailed me that she wanted to warn me because she's worried about something…"

"Okay… W-What does that have to do with me, though…?" She feigned innocence, but still looked a little nervous.

"You really don't know? Because she also wrote about how Naomi-san's exchanging emails with you all day already."

"Well, yeah… I am… Why would make that Mio-san worry, though?" She continued to feign innocence.

"Oh? Then what about the part where Naomi-san occasionally looked at Mio-san while _grinning like an idiot_ after getting a message from you? Or how she energetically and all bubbly wrote you an answer afterward?"

"Ah, that… Ahaha… No, you shouldn't worry about that, Kagamin~. The two of us have absolutely nothing planned at all. It's totally fine~."

"K-Kona?!" This reaction obviously made her worry all the more. "J-Just what are you two up to?!"

"Like I said, nothing at all~."

"That's not good…" Kagami knew that she wouldn't get Konata to talk and gave up. Because she knew that something obviously _was_ up, she took her phone and quickly messaged Mio back. She hurriedly wrote that her worries were right and that the two were definitely planning something. Something that will definitely put them in _danger_ soon. Both actually had a slight hunch of what they're planning, but the two decided to better not think about it.

….

The flower viewing party began to die down after a while because the girls were rather tired. Tsukasa was napping against Miyuki's shoulder, who seemed to be quite happy about this. Yutaka was curled up like a cat and was using Minami's lap as a pillow. Minami herself was also asleep while leaning against the big cherry blossom tree behind her. Thanks to that, Hiyori was so satisfied that she couldn't bear much more and approved the idea of going home. Konata and Kagami were also happy because of how things went with Tsukasa today. Not to mention how Kagami was too busy worrying about Konata's and Naomi's mysterious plan to focus on the flower viewing.

After waking up the sleeping girls, everyone packed up their belongings, cleaned up a little, and went back to Konata's and Kagami's apartment.

Everyone went to the living room and crashed down on the sofa together. Seven people were more than just a little cramped, but the girls were close enough not to mind it, and it worked out somehow. The three drunk girls, Tsukasa, Yutaka, and Minami were still tired and were about to fall asleep again. Because of that, they decided to talk about the bathing situation quickly before they completely drifted into the land of dreams again.

"Soo… Because going alone would take up way too much time… Our bath is slightly on the bigger side and can easily fit two people without any problems." Konata was speaking from experience here after all. "Three might be a tight fit, but it should work out, too. Well then, Kagamin~ and I are an obvious duo. Miyuki and Tsukasa are also a fixed set. Let's see… yeah, that works. Hiyorin~, you're going together with Yu-chan and Minami. The two are still tipsy, and they really shouldn't go alone. Because that's entirely your fault, you're going to take care of them."

"Sounds like a plan, Kona." Kagami agreed with her. "Okay, you three can go first." She pointed and Hiyori and the half-asleep Yutaka and Minami.

Once they disappeared into the bathroom, the remaining girls decided to chat some more because it's probably going to take a while before the three are done with their bath. Well, Konata and Kagami were talking with Miyuki at least. Tsukasa used the newly gained space on the sofa, curled herself up, and fell asleep next to Miyuki.

"Ah~, it's so great that things are okay with Tsukasa again!" Konata looked with a happy smile at the sleeping girl. "Thank you very much, Miyuki."

"Yeah, thank you very much, Miyuki." Kagami was also happy for her help on the matter.

"Hehe, you're welcome." She was glad to be of use.

"Still, don't you think it was a little extreme what you did, Miyuki?" While being happy about the result, she was still concerned about it.

"You might be right, Kagami-san. Actually, I just saw the chocolate and thought _Why not?_ , and used the chance…"

"I-I see… I never knew you could be this easygoing, Miyuki." Kagami was surprised by the answer.

"Well, there was also another, slightly more selfish reason… I kind of wanted to see how Tsukasa-san acts when she's drunk…"

"…" The couple went silent. This wasn't something the two thought they would ever hear from Miyuki, not to mention how she didn't even hesitate before confessing it.

"K-Kagamin~!" Konata was panicking. "I-I think we had a bit too much of a bad influence on our serious and upstanding Miyuki…"

"Y-Yeah… You might be right there, Kona… We're sorry about that, Miyuki…" Kagami, too, was feeling responsible.

"Ehehe~." Miyuki only let out a chuckle. "I wouldn't call it a bad influence, you know? I'm really enjoying my current life to the fullest. I'm having great friends, I'm about to enter college in order to learn my dream job, and I have to cutest lover there is." Miyuki gently patted the head of the sleeping Tsukasa next to her during the last part, who then let out some cute sounds in return in her sleep. "I couldn't be happier right now if you ask me. It doesn't sound like someone's having a bad influence on me, does it?"

"If you put it that way… You really have changed in the past two years, though, Miyuki." Kagami was surprised by the new her. "You've become much more approachable and sociable, especially compared to how you were like during our first year in high school when the two of us were in the same class. Not that I'm one to talk… Anyway… There was nothing else except studying on your mind back then."

"You've also become much less ditzy…" Konata had something to add, too. "I'm not sure whether that's a good thing or not, though… It's a huge loss for your moe-factor for sure, Miyuki."

"Ahaha…" She let out a short, embarrassed laugh.

"Mhmm… Mhmmn…" Tsukasa suddenly began to stir and mumbled something in her sleep. "That'sh… not true at all…Yuuki-shan's still… shuper clumbsy… Just yeshterday… she ran into the glassh door of her own living room… mhmmn…"

"Heh~." The couple looked at Miyuki with a big grin as her entire face turned red.

"Some things never change after all~." Konata was happy that Miyuki's _moe-factor_ was still going strong.

"T-Tsukasa-san!" She wanted to scold her and tried to glare at the girl, but Miyuki only looked adorable as she puffed up her cheeks. Also, it was completely impossible for Miyuki being mad at her. Tsukasa made another little stir and nuzzled her head against Miyuki's side while she continued to sleep soundly. "Haa…" She had no choice than to give up with a sigh.

"Don't mind…" The couple fully understood why couldn't be mad at Tsukasa right now. The three continued to watch over the sleeping girl for a while until Hiyori, Yutaka, and Minami finally came out of the bath again.

Yutaka and Minami seemed to be somewhat fit again and directly went to the kitchen together, probably to get something to drink. Hiyori, on the other hand, looked terribly exhausted now. Her skin also looked paler than usual, and she had some tissues stuffed into her nostrils for some reason. She entered the living room and joined the two couples on the sofa.

"Good work, Hiyorin~." Konata had a vague idea what happened in the bath.

"Y-Yeah…"

"Well then, have fun, Miyuki, and Tsukasa. Ah, but not too much fun, okay?" Konata was having fun.

"Hmm…" Miyuki had a complicated expression as she looked at her still comfortably sleep partner next to her. "Okay, let me try this…" She got up and simply picked Tsukasa up like it was nothing. While giving her a princess carry, Miyuki steadily advanced towards the bathroom.

"Wow, she's stronger than I thought." Kagami was the only one with a normal reaction.

"*clap*clap*clap*" Konata and Hiyori stood up from the sofa and applauded the prince who was carrying her princess away.

"Kagamin~, I want the same next time!"

"My friends are the best…" The white tissues in Hiyori's nostrils began to slowly turn red again.

Miyuki seemed to be really confident while she was carrying Tsukasa, but the other girls could easily see from behind how embarrassed she was because even her ears were red. Once the two were gone, strength left Hiyori's body again, and she slumped down on the sofa once more.

"And, how was it in the bath together with Yu-chan and Minami~?" Konata saw how exhausted she was, but that only added to her amusement.

"Very stimulating… in various ways…" There was a look of defeat in her eyes.

"V-Various ways…?" Konata had no idea how to interpret those words.

"W-Well… You saw how Yutaka and Minami were such clingy drunks earlier, right…? Let's just say I couldn't just spectate and I got _literally_ caught in the middle of the two in the bath… I made _barely_ sure that the chastity of everyone stayed safe, including mine… Okay, mostly safe… depending on how you look at it… No comments, though… Anyway… I think I have enough… reference material for my manga for the next… two years." Even though she was tired and almost lost something very important, Hiyori still looked satisfied, but Konata really didn't dare to ask which part exactly made her satisfied.

"I see… thanks for keeping them in check, I guess…?" She gave a shallow response, but before things got too awkward, Minami and Yutaka arrived in the living room.

"We're back~."

"We got some drinks for everyone." The two were strangely refreshed looking for some reason.

"Thanks." Everyone gladly accepted the refreshments.

"Yu-chan, how was the bath for you?" Konata needed to know the other side of the coin now.

"It was fun." The main culprit only gave a short and uninformative answer.

"Okay…" Konata had hoped for a more detailed answer. "What about you, Minami…?"

"Well… What happened to me anyway…? Ever since the flower viewing… I felt kind of weird somehow couldn't restrain myself about what I was doing anymore…" Minami was the most confused of everyone about the events.

"Ah, you two were drunk, like, totally wasted. Well, not that much, but…"

"E-Eh…?" Yutaka and Minami had the same reaction.

"Yeah, remember the box of chocolate the two of you ate almost entirely? As it turned out, they were filled with alcohol."

"Okay… this explains a lot…" Minami finally understood why she was acting like that.

"I'm very sorry!" Hiyori once more, it wasn't the first time today, got on her knees and apologized to them. "I didn't think you two would eat so many of them! This outcome really wasn't my intention!"

"Don't worry, it's okay. Nothing bad happened after all." The two weren't mad at her.

"How are you feeling now?" Kagami was concerned about their health after getting drunk on accident.

"I'm strangely fine for some reason…" Minami wasn't affected by the alcohol anymore.

"I'm still a little dizzy, but it's okay." Yutaka, being much smaller, hadn't fully recovered yet. "I think the relaxing bath really helped, though."

"*cough*cough*…" Hiyori suddenly began to choke on her drink when she heard the word _relaxing._

"Are you okay, Hiyori-chan?"

"I-I'm fine… don't mind me…" For her, it was everything except relaxing.

"So unfair…" Kagami suddenly seemed jealous. "You should be happy it wasn't much alcohol you had... Kona and I hadn't recovered so fast the last time…"

"Hoh~, what's that about?" Hiyori made a miracle recovery in no time and seemed perfectly healthy again with a sparkle in her eyes because she smelled an exciting story.

"Well, long story short, Kona and I got super drunk on our anniversary last year…"

"Details! I need details!" Hiyori was looking forward to hearing more of the story.

"Hmmn…" Kagami wasn't sure whether it was a good idea to actually tell her or not. "Whatever… We had a fancy dinner in the hotel we were, and we mistakenly got a bottle of champagne… It was surprisingly tasty and… well, the bottle was empty before we even noticed. Walking, not just in a straight line, gets pretty hard if you're drunk, you know…? I think I spent more time on the floor than on my feet…"

"Yeah, Kagamin~ was like a newborn fawn~. She was super cute."

"Like you were any better, Kona. Anyway… Afterward, Kona and I hurt ourselves quite a bit…"

"H-Huh?! What happened?"

"Have you ever tried to enter one of those standalone hammocks for your garden, Hiyori?"

"Yeah, I needed like three tries to get in AND actually stay inside one, though…"

"Well, now try to imagine entering one when you're drunk to the point of being unable to walk…"

"Are you two stupid? You really are idiots after all, right?" Hiyori tried to be the voice of reason for a change.

"Yes. Very." The couple had nothing to say in their defense.

"Even though we crashed on the hard… very hard ground very often, it was great once we managed to get on, though. It was super comfy and cuddly with Kagamin~."

"That's true~." The two got lost in their own little world for a moment. "W-Whatever… Flash forward to the next day because the rest of the evening and night was… Ahem, we basically slept through half of the day because we were wasted… That's why, sobering up after just a bath is super unfair."

"You're the one who's being unfair, Kagami-senpai!" Hiyori suddenly became angry. "H-How could you hide such a great story from me for so long!"

"Your reaction is exactly the reason why…" Kagami let out a sigh at her much-expected reaction.

"That's not nice at all!"

"You have no idea just how much we haven't told you, Hiyori, and more importantly never will."

"You are so mean, Kagami-senpai~!"

"Tehe~. Back to the topic… It was fun, I have to admit that, but Kona and I promised each other not getting drunk again anytime soon, especially after the rebound we got hit with… You're not responsible for what happened, Minami and Yutaka, but you shouldn't repeat what happened either until you're old enough for drinking." Kagami, being the most responsible in the present group, had to scold the girls a little.

"Of course!" They had no problem with it.

…

Miyuki and Tsukasa finished their bath a little after and it was finally the time for Konata and Kagami. Fortunately, because neither of them was drunk, the two's bath didn't take much time and left the bathroom in no time at all again. With guests in their home, taking a bath together wasn't nearly as _exciting_ as usual after all. After leaving, the two noticed that Miyuki and Tsukasa were in the kitchen to prepare a light dinner for everyone to pass the time. Konata and Kagami then joined them to talk about some things. The two also wanted to chat with Tsukasa about the latest events, namely Kagami royally messing up and then growing distant from each other. Tsukasa noticed the couple entering the kitchen and took the initiative on the topic, though.

"Kona-chan, onee-chan, I'm really sorry about how I was acting lately!"

"Aaah~…" The couple began to grin like idiots for a moment because they were so happy Tsukasa used their usual names again before Kagami snapped back to reality.

"C-Calm down, sis, you don't have to apologize. It's my and mine fault alone. You did absolutely nothing wrong!" She tried to stop her, but Tsukasa simply kept going.

"No, it's me who made things awkward between us… Because I couldn't figure out how to deal with the… v-video… I was unable to even look at you, onee-chan… Even worse, I treated Kona-chan the same even though she had absolutely nothing to do with it. Just because she's your girlfriend and…" She couldn't finish the sentence because she was too embarrassed. "I-I never was angry in the first place… It's just that I watched the video, and… and…" Her entire face was red. "Is that… Is that really something couples do…?" She looked at Konata and Kagami with watery eyes because she became even more embarrassed as she remembered the contents of the video. "J-Just imagining doing _that_ with… WAHH!" She looked shy as she stole a quick glance of Miyuki, but there also was just a slight hint of excitement in her eyes.

"E-Ehm…" This wasn't an answer Kagami was going to answer. There was no way she would talk about _advanced bedroom-techniques_ with her little sister. "A-Anyway… Sis, I'm terribly sorry about what happened. Your reaction was absolutely, and 100% justified. You had every right to act like you acted, even being mad at me would've been perfectly normal. You weren't at fault here, just me alone." She apologized once more.

"Kagamin's~ right, Tsukasa… I still can't believe just how stupid her idea was…"

"Yes, I'm very sorry for being such an idiot."

"Ahaha." Everyone began to laugh because it wasn't an everyday occurrence that Kagami had to apologize for doing something unreasonable and outright stupid, especially apologizing for the towards Konata of all people.

Once the girls stopped laughing, Konata and Kagami tightly hugged Tsukasa again. They missed it so much and were so happy that the awkwardness between them was finally over. Miyuki warmly watched over them with a smile. She, too, was glad that the girls were on good terms again. It was also hard for her seeing them like that until now.

Once the couple finished hugging Tsukasa and parted from her, Miyuki suddenly got closer to them and started whispering something.

"Kagami-san… About the video you accidentally sent to Tsukasa-san… Do you have some more videos like that…? If so… could you send them to me…?" Even though her cheeks were dyed in a deep red, Miyuki looked super excited and curious for more. It seemed like Kagami accidentally awakened something inside of her.

"Shut up, Ko… Ah, Miyuki… Shut up, Miyuki." Kagami almost misspoke. "Hah, I never thought I would say that to Miyuki…"

"Hey!" Konata obviously wasn't happy about her slip of the tongue.

"Sorry, force of habit…"

"Kagamin~ is such a bully~. Anyway…." She wasn't overly angry. "Reaffirming what we said earlier today, you really have changed a lot after all, Miyuki. Who would've thought you were actually a pervert~?"

"I-I am nothing like that!"

"Ah, just a little frustrated then, huh~?" She only wanted to make a joke.

"…" Miyuki went silent.

"Okay…" Her reaction, or rather the lack of a reaction was too much for Konata to deal with. "Well, I really like the new and improved Miyuki, though."

"T-Thank you…"

….

The girls finished preparing the dinner a little while later, and everyone ate together. Afterward, the group got comfortable on the slightly cramped sofa again while watching some movies and their usual chatting about this and that, simply having a good time together.

"By the way, where are we going to sleep today?"

"Hmm…" Kagami began to think after hearing Hiyori's question. "Let's see… While sitting on it with multiple people is one thing, sleeping on the sofa should be limited to two, I think. How are your opinions on that, Miyuki and Tsukasa?" She asked the two who already spent a night on it.

"Yes, I agree with Kagami-san. Okay, three people could also fit, but those three should be really comfortable with being close to each other because it probably would end up being a very _intimate_ night…"

"Oho, intimate, huh~?" Konata had a cheeky grin. "How about it, Hiyorin? I mean after the bath earlier…"

"N-No… I'm fine with using the sleeping bag I brought with me…"

"Aww~… Okay, I guess Miyuki and Tsukasa are getting the sofa again then. Remember to keep it family friendly this time, though, okay?" Konata was having a great time.

"K-Konata-san!" Miyuki wasn't that happy about it.

"Ehehe~. Anyway, the _threesome's_ left then… Ah, no, I mean the three younger girls…?" She was doing it on purpose by now. "I think the Japanese room would be the best place. The tatami there is super comfortable. Sleeping there should be really nice."

"Judging by how often Kona had fallen asleep under the kotatsu there already, I suppose she's right."

"And how often have you taken a nap there already, Kagamin~?"

"N-No comment…"

"That doesn't sound so bad." Hiyori was okay with the idea. "What about you, Minami and Yutaka?"

"Yes, I'm fine with that."

"Me, too."

"Anyway, back to the topic, Konata-senpai~." Hiyori looked kind of angry after getting teased so much.

"What is it, Hiyorin?"

"Look forward to my next doujin~. I had some ideas I held back until now, but I somehow feel like using one of them now."

"Oh? Sure, polyamory is always exciting in 2D. Nice, go for it~." Konata wasn't going to back off anytime soon.

"No~, it's about a totally fictional couple that has absolutely no connection to real people. This couple recently moved together, and it's easily going to be my _dirtiest_ doujin I ever made… by far." Her eyes looked scary.

"Sounds great, reserve me a copy~."

"Haa… I give up…" Hiyori finally understood that today wasn't her day when it comes to winning an argument with Konata.

Once the sleeping situation, and a little more than that was solved, the girls continued their idle chatting while watching movies.

Even though everyone, except Hiyori, got lively after having taken a bath, some of the girls became tired again as the evening progressed. Yutaka was the first who gave in to the sweet temptation of sleep because she wasn't used to staying up late in the first place. _Naturally_ , Minami followed after her, and the two disappeared into the Japanese room to sleep. The others stayed awake a little longer, but followed after the two soon enough.

….

The next morning came, but the girls didn't care much about that because everyone decided to sleep in late that day.

Once everyone was awake, the group had a late breakfast together and took it easy for a few hours. The girls had a lot of fun, and everyone decided to revisit the couple soon. Especially Tsukasa will come over on a regular basis now. She missed Konata and Kagami way too much after all, and she had a lot of catching up to make up for the past awkwardness between them to do. Also, she really wanted to visit the rumored Japanese sweets store Kagami was talking about. Those sweets really left a big impression on her.

Once the group was gone, and the couple alone again, Konata and Kagami cleaned up their apartment after the storm and then relaxed for the rest of the day. The two were so relieved that Tsukasa loved them again that the two weren't able to stop smiling for a long time.

As the next week progressed, the couple was slowly becoming excited for a very different reason. Their college life was about to start and while the two were extremely nervous, Konata, and even more so Kagami, were really looking forward to this new chapter of their life.

* * *

.

* * *

The chapter took a little longer because I couldn't get motivated to do anything except nothing at all during this super-hot weather the last weeks… Consistently over 35 °C and often even going over 40 °C (about 3 billion °F for the American readers) when you're not used to it is absolutely no fun…

Wow, that's already the third flower viewing chapter in this story. I hope I'm not being _too_ repetitive… Well, Hiyori almost had a surprise threesome, so I guess it was a little different this time.

Konata, Kagami, and Konata are good, too, again. Miyuki was best girl this chapter, for various reasons~. It's always the quiet girls with deep waters. Makes one wonder about Minami (not that I have anything planned, though).

Konata and Naomi are also getting closer, not that everyone is entirely happy about that… Then again, Kagami and Mio are just shy~.

Next chapter is about… That's a very good question, haven't thought about it much… Probably something college related… It will probably also take some time again. I want to make another illustration (for a future, not the next, chapter), and I want to completely rewrite some of the earliest chapters of this story. I recently skimmed through them because I was looking for something and couldn't bear it… I'm not saying the recent chapters are overly good (decent, though, I guess/hope), but the early ones are sooo bad…


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